The Most Eligible Bachelor
An Editorial Portrait Series by Juan Paolo Alicante
Foreword
I once shared with a friend that while growing up, I felt a pressure to find true love - not for happiness, but for belonging, and not belonging to another, but to society itself. She told me it was the most honest thing she’s ever heard me say. I thought that if I found love, it would have made all the pain, all the struggle, and all the shame of the closet worth something. I’d be accepted. I’d be palatable for the world. I’d be seen as less of a danger to others. It was always about self-preservation and controlling perception. It was about trying to make sense of the senseless pain I’ve endured my whole life.
The reality is that I am human. I want touch. I want to see and feel seen. I want love. I want to belong to myself, and to another. I want to see myself as someone who is worthy of that kind of love. Above all, I want it to first come from me. I created this project to see if that was possible.
Description
The Most Eligible Bachelor is an editorial portrait series that seeks to create representation for queer and Asian men, and reclaim the narrative that we are capable of being the protagonists of our own romantic stories. Rather than hide our queer identities or play small by perpetuating the model minority myth - buying into the narrative that Asian men are unattractive - I wanted to imagine what it would look like if we took up space. What would it feel like to live in a world where we were allowed to love freely and be celebrated for who we are? What would it be like if we could embody the romantic ideals we've all come to know and love - the golden boy, the dangerous hottie, the boy next door, or the wild and chivalrous romantic dream?
The Golden Boy
The love interest marked by being inaccessible and out of reach. Typically talented, good looking, and of high social status. The golden boy is known to be admired and constantly put on a pedestal.
Model: Toff Ylanan
The Bad Boy
The love interest that's an intoxicating mix of sex appeal and threat. The Bad Boy is known to be flirtatious, dangerous, confident, and mysterious.
Model: Mark Libatique
The Boy Next Door
The love interest marked by being familiar and emotionally available. The Boy Next Door is known to be reliable, loyal, and sensitive. As a character they are typically a friend, neighbor, or confidant who is left pining for someone's attention.
Model: Tim Zhang
The Wild Dream
The love interest marked by being quirky and whimsical, while having the power to sweep you off your feet. The Wild Dream is a little reckless, but fun. They are known to be spontaneous, charming, and adventurous.
Model: Alonzo Magsino
Reflections
What started as a project in pursuit of external validation and representation, blossomed into a practice of manifestation and self-acceptance.
I wanted to imagine a world where queer, Asian-American men could be desirable, attractive, charming, sexy, seductive, hopelessly romantic, and intimately divine.
I wanted to prove that we hold many dimensions, and have the power to embody characters that we've seen played out time and time again, and yet never quite reflected our own pigment or devilish desires of lust and love.
I set out to create The Most Eligible Bachelor to challenge the notion that we ever fit into the boxes that we are so quick to be put in. I hope that when you look at these images you see what I've come to now know, that queer, Asian-American men transcend the boxes we have yet to be imagined in.
