JUAN ANTONIO PAPAGNI MECA: From Grindr Encounters to the Poetry of the Male Body
Whether discovered on Instagram, Grindr, or a dancefloor, the men in Juan Antonio Papagni Meca’s photographs become part of a world where beauty, desire, and vulnerability coexist. The Madrid-based, Argentinian photographer talks to GayWoof about male sensuality, queer self-expression, erotic tension, and why the most compelling images begin with trust and human connection.
GWF: Can you tell us a bit about yourself, your journey from Argentina to Madrid, and what first drew you to photography?
I am Juan Antonio Papagni Meca, an Argentinian photographer based in Spain. I work across commercial, social, and fashion photography, while constantly exploring the art world through personal projects.
My work reflects my own desires, pain, dreams, and nightmares, always presented in a tasteful and classic way. I find beauty in a simple and unpretentious style. Drawing on my knowledge, experience, and travels, I create sensorial images with a strong aesthetic and a touch of the theatrical.
I have always been curious about image, design, fashion, cinema, dance, and painting, which initially led me to study architecture. However, my true passion has always been photography. I often work with male models, exploring the beauty of the body and human sensitivity. My work embraces the fatigue of loneliness alongside self-love, finding beauty in everyday moments — what I call the “Poetry of the Image.”
“I began working with dancers, which became my first encounter with male nude photography”
I have dual citizenship (Argentinian and Spanish), so in my thirties I decided to move to Spain and start a new life. It was a beautiful adventure, and it still is.
I’ve been interested in photography since I was a child, but I truly committed to it after graduating as an architect. I worked in social and fashion photography for more than ten years in Buenos Aires. During that time, I began working with dancers, which became my first encounter with male nude photography.
When I arrived in Madrid almost ten years ago, I had no contacts in the fashion industry, so I had to do everything myself — booking, styling, location scouting, shooting, retouching… I guess that’s the reason there’s often a lack of clothes in my photos, haha.
GWF: Your photography brings out sensuality and intimacy in men of different shapes and types — how do you capture and highlight each individual’s unique sexiness in your work?
I choose the people I photograph by Instagram, Grindr or approaching them at clubs… usually is a collaboration so there’s a previous agreement, they have to trust me and like my style. I don’t pay the models and most of the times I don’t work with professional models, that’s a great challenge and the joy of the experience.
Every person is unique. The most interesting thing is to discover the human being behind the body and have fun throughout the process.
GWF: There’s a strong presence of nature in your images—what draws you to these settings?
I work in the spaces I have around. I try to find the beauty everywhere, whether is in nature, in studio or at people’s homes. As an architect I have the ability to create compositions with any kind of resources.
GWF: How do you create trust and comfort with your subjects, and how do you then translate that intimacy into the energy or erotic tension in your photos?
Respect is above everything, that’s the key for the whole situation. Then it’s about the energy I create and the chemistry produced between the subject and me, so every time is a different result, a new experiment.
I try to show the people how they are in their intimate routines, capturing the message they want to tell.
I’m under control but they set the limits. Always open to their suggestions. They have to seduce me, if they can’t, then they can not seduce the audience.
GWF: Your work ranges from soft, romantic imagery to more raw, intense scenes, yet all your photos feel cohesive and dreamlike — how do you achieve that balance and atmosphere?
It is like the angel and the devil whispering at my ears and guiding me, apparently the result seems balanced, that’s an interesting question.
I have many influencies and references in my head (whether it comes from paintings, movies or any other art form) and at the same time social media and real life.
I always try to create a tale through my images: sometimes sad, maybe melancholic, or even about anger.
I need to connect with the models and listen to what they have to say. Then, magic happens: They can all be romantic and sexual at the same time. And because that essence is in me, and that’s what I’m looking for in them, we begin the story we want to tell.
GWF: Do you have a favourite part of the male body that you especially like to explore in your photography?
I love the male body. I adore capturing butts and bulges, but at the same time the hands, neck, chest, legs, feet… Every person has a special part that need to be highlighted or discovered, and that is my task.
GWF: Are there certain themes or ideas you find yourself returning to in your photography?
I might probably, but I never pay attention to it. Let me think… It just happens because it is in me I guess. I do what I do because I can, because I like it, I because I want to. So it is all about my dream world, my background, my wishes and desires. A world I’ve been creating for a long time. That world is made of art, beauty, sensuality, peace, acceptance, equality, love, respect… These are themes I mostly return to.
GWF: You often collaborate with designers, dancers, musicians, and other artists — how do these collaborations influence your creative process and the way you approach your photography?
I love art in general, I love artists. I respect them. I wish they run the world. So, doing collaborations is a very joyful experience. Is like mixing ingredients of an unknown recipe and making a new delicious dish!
I adore to collaborate with them, is like speaking different dialects but the same language.
Is an enriched experience, a constant learning.
GWF: Do you mainly work with gay&queer men in your photography, and how does sexuality influence the dynamic or energy of your shoots?
Mostly the last 10 years it had been all about gay&queer men. About “sexuality”, psicologically speaking, let’s say that It took me a lot of time to get into it but finally I got rid of my prejudices and sense of guilt after so much struggling (specially during my childhood and adolescence). “Sexuality” in my work is a constant topic that still helps me for accepting myself and break barriers. It’s a shield against the fascists and conservatives. I think the more naturalisation and visibility of the sexuality, the more acceptance.
And physically speaking, as I said before, every person is unique, so the vibes are different in each situation. Sometimes there’s this “tension”, that is so powerful (where I show you a boner licking) and others is a romantic and angelical feeling with just the gesture of “hand on the chest”.
Sometimes is present throughout the process and others it’s just vaguely insinuated.
GWF: Your photos often have a beautiful, natural light quality — do you primarily work with natural light, or do you carefully set the lighting to create that effect? How does light influence the mood and intimacy in your images?
I mostly use natural light, but if necessary I use artificial.
As I said, art and movies are really present in my life, so I learned observing the great masters.
Light is everything in photography. It’s necessary to know how to control it to get what I want, therefore I can find the mood or intimacy I pretend to show.
GWF: Your male portraits often feel alive, almost cinematic — how do you use movement, gesture, or body language to bring energy and intimacy to your images?
This is again because of the trust and connection between model and photographer. If there’s a nice chemistry, guiding and directing the subject is a beautiful play.
Then there is the story we want to tell, the way the character shows himself, how I capture it and how people look and interpret the photo.
So magic happens, and as I say: “Poetry of the image” is created.
