MY DEAREST JAVANESE CONCUBINE

A tender and wild love story of two real courageous and vulnerable human beings. It moves from the extreme to the ordinary, from sweet to brutal, and it keeps moving me. (Michael Ackerman)

A story full of vitamins and warm energy. (Anders Petersen)

Love story of the 21st century. Two social outcasts in far, far Indonesia find a way to love each other regardless of their backgrounds: Tira Yohanes Soepomo, a 48 years old transsexual who identified as female, and Dayang, a throw away person, unemployed with no family.

'The two met while living on the streets of the Muslim city of Jogiakarta in Central Java. They shared a life together in a basic six square meter squat that became the centre of their universe. Tira contracted HIV, the deadly virus that hides invisible in the blood, like her ineffable desires and emotions. Dayang loved Tira regardless of the virus; together they shared a lust for life and the courage to be themselves. The couple allowed Luca Desienna into their lives and trusted him to make this respectful and intimate portrait of their relationship. Luca’s photographs honestly penetrate into the moments of their wild, and sometimes raw love making. It’s a passionate portrait of joy and pain, suffering, and ultimately of Tira’s death.' (taken from Peggy Sue Amison’s essay to the book)

Tira: 'Sometimes I look at myself and feel beautiful, but sometimes I ask God why He made me this way.

See what power of love can do!

A far away intimate universe. A kind of magic. (Lorenzo Castore)

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In the press:

• Luca Desienna on shooting My Dearest Javanese Concubine (interview) @ British Journal of Photography (in English)
• The impassioned, desperate and untold tale of two Javanese lovers @ Elephant.art (in English)
• La Bocca del Lupo, un amour javanais, par Luca Desienna, photographe @ Le blog de Fabien Ribery (in French)

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Selected awards:

• Gold Winner @ the 2020 International Photography Awards' Photobook/People category (USA)
• Honourable Mention @ the 2020 Moscow International Foto Awards' Photobook/People category (Russia)