French artist and photographer Olivier Ciappa’s photographic series, Imaginary Couples, is, as the title suggests, about couple that don’t exist in real life but were brought together for the images, alongside pictures of real couples. The idea is to help combat the homophobia the photographer saw across the world, hoping that by highlighting all types of relationships, he could display the universality of love.
His project included enlisting some heterosexual celebs to pose as gay couples for the images, including Eva Longoria and singer Lara Fabian, as well as Sicario director Dennis Villenueve and Dallas Buyers Club’s Jean-Marc Vallee getting cosy in the shower.
Ciappa told Huffpo, “The celebrities that I shot are heterosexual, but it was essential to me that you would believe these imaginary couples and families they portray were real. If you couldn’t identify with their love and feel it was real, then I would have failed. If you couldn’t identify with their love and feel it was real, then I would have failed. And to show that love is love, no matter who [is involved], the exhibition also features real gay families, straight ones, single parents, disabled, people of different skin colors and origins, different religion, young couples, old ones… All of these pictures, imaginary or real, have the same glamorous and warm monochrome style that makes them look not only appealing but timeless.”
Take a look at the pics above and below. You can see some more of the images here.
