In conversation with Miguel Albino
DG: Your images are quite romantic, Miguel. How easy is it to present yourself as both romantic and sexy, as a gay man?
Miguel Albino: I have always found doing that very easy, almost automatically. I’ve always had a hard time separating sex and emotion even on very low levels; so when it comes to those attributes they’ll always come together for me, as if codependent.
DG: Do you feel affected by Brazilian attitudes towards the naked male body?
Miguel Albino: I do – and not in a positive way. I grew up in Rio where the body culture is really strong to the point where if you haven’t got a ripped physique you don’t fit in so I was always very self-conscious and never really showed any skin if I could help it. It wasn’t till I moved to Britain that I gained some naked body confidence.
“It wasn’t till I moved to Britain that I gained some naked body confidence.” Photo: Miguel Albino.
DG: What do you think of British attitudes towards male nudity, in queer or straight culture?
Miguel Albino: In my experience, being “normal” is celebrated and not something to be ashamed of in Britain when it comes to nudity. I have seen a lot more acceptance from the queer and straight communities than I ever did back in Brazil and that’s bittersweet; to think I’ve had to move across the Atlantic to feel body confident is weird.
Miguel Albino. By Steven Rolfe.
Q: Not every man is lucky to be as handsome as you. How do you feel about the pressure to be hot and tight-bodied, in gay culture?
Miguel Albino: Why, thank you! I feel there’s a pressure to look good in some gay circles, but I have also noticed that those circles are often disposable and unattainable. I have seen people be body-shamed on social media and that was scary. But I also feel that there’s a lot of good causes out there to help people feel they’re beautiful the way they are, in spite of their race, shape or size.
“To think I’ve had to move across the Atlantic to feel body confident is weird.” Photo: Steven Rolfe.
Q: Cock and cunt shots are usually either seen in porn or High Art. Under what conditions would you post your full nude on Social Media, if it wasn’t for a magazine shoot?
I would only post my full nudes on social media with a soft cock.
Q: Which gay icons would you like to see get naked – and in which publications?
I have the biggest crush on Dylan McDermott and give me Trevante Rhodes any day, in any publication.
Trevante Rhodes (straight but outspokenly supportive of queer rights) in a film still from his role as a suppressed queer man in ‘Moonlight’.
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