Sunil Gupta (photographer)

Sunil Gupta (born 1953)[1] is an Indian-born Canadian photographer, based in London.[2] His career has been spent "making work responding to the injustices suffered by gay men across the globe, himself included",[2][3] including themes of sexual identity, migration, race and family.[4] Gupta has produced a number of books and his work is held in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Philadelphia Museum of Art, and Tate. In 2020 he was awarded Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Photographic Society. He currently has a solo exhibition at The Photographers' Gallery in London.

Early life and education

Gupta was born in New Delhi, India in 1953.[5] In 1969, he migrated to Montreal, Canada with his family.[2]

He studied at Dawson College, Montreal (1970–1972); gained a Bachelor of Commerce in accountancy at Concordia University, Montreal (1972–1977); studied photography at The New School for Social Research in New York City (1976); gained a diploma in photography at West Surrey College of Art and Design, Farnham, UK (1978–1981); gained an MA in photography at the Royal College of Art in London (1981–1983); and gained a PhD at University of Westminster, London (2018).[6][5][2]

Life and work

Gupta embraced his sexuality for the first time when he arrived at Concordia University in Montreal in 1970. He joined a campus gay liberation movement group and took photographs for its newspaper.[7]

His career has been spent "making work responding to the injustices suffered by gay men across the globe, himself included",[2] including themes of sexual identity, migration, race and family.[4] His series include the street photography of Christopher Street (1976); Reflections of the Black Experience (1986); Pretended Family Relationships (1988); Memorials (1995); the narrative portraits of From Here to Eternity (1999); and the highly staged and constructed scenes of The New Pre-Raphaelites (2008).[2][8]

Gupta was one of the founders of the Association of Black Photographers (now Autograph ABP) in London in 1988.[9]

Personal life

Gupta is married to Charan Singh, also a photographer.[10] They live in Camberwell, London.[10]

Gupta was diagnosed with HIV in 1995.[10]

Publications

Books of works by Gupta
  • Pictures From Here. 2003. ISBN 0-9542813-2-2.
  • Wish you Were Here: Memories of a gay life. New Delhi: Yoda, 2008. ISBN 978-81-906668-0-0.
  • Queer. Prestel, 2011. ISBN 9783791350998.
  • Christopher Street 1976. London: Stanley/Barker, 2018. ISBN 9781916410688.[11]
  • Lovers: Ten Years On. London: Stanley/Barker, 2020. ISBN 978-1-913288-12-9.[12]

Books of works with others
  • Delhi: Communities of Belonging. With Charan Singh. New Press, 2016. ISBN 978-1-62097-265-6.[13][14]

Books edited by Gupta
  • An Economy of Signs: contemporary Indian photographs. Arts Council England; Rivers Oram, 1990.
  • Ecstatic Antibodies: resisting the AIDS mythology. Edited with Tessa Boffin. Arts Council England; Rivers Oram, 1990. ISBN 9781854890054. Photographs and text.
  • Disrupted Borders: an intervention in definitions of boundaries. London: Arts Council England; Rivers Oram, 1993.

Awards

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions and exhibitions paired with others

Exhibitions curated by Gupta

Collections

Gupta's work is held in the following permanent collections:

References
  1. Tate. "Sunil Gupta born 1953". Tate. Retrieved 2020-10-25.
  2. "Sunil Gupta on his life, his work, and gay-rights since the sixties". British Journal of Photography. 6 October 2020. Retrieved 2020-10-25.
  3. "Sunil Gupta's Untitled No 12: love, poetry and protest". The Guardian. 26 June 2020. Retrieved 2020-10-25.
  4. "Sunil Gupta's photographs document 50 years of gay liberation". The Economist. 5 November 2020. ISSN 0013-0613. Retrieved 2020-11-26.
  5. "Sunil Gupta's best photograph: cruising for sex in New York City". The Guardian. 5 December 2018. Retrieved 2020-10-25.
  6. "About". Sunil Gupta. Retrieved 2020-10-26.
  7. Fulleylove, Rebecca (3 November 2020). "Sunil Gupta on 45 years of making pictures". Creative Review. Retrieved 2020-11-26.
  8. "From Here to Eternity: Sunil Gupta. A Retrospective". The Photographers' Gallery. 18 December 2019. Retrieved 2020-10-26.
  9. "Autograph ABP – Art Term". Tate. Retrieved 2020-10-26.
  10. Cernik, Lizzie (11 May 2020). "How we met: 'He was very sexy but also very honest and good'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2020-10-25.
  11. "Cruising on Christopher Street: Sunil Gupta's nostalgic images of New York's gay scene in 1976". Creative Boom. 21 November 2018. Retrieved 2020-10-26.
  12. "Sunil Gupta's Pioneering Portraits of Proud Gay Couples". AnOther. 29 September 2020. Retrieved 2020-10-26.
  13. Ongley, Hannah (10 April 2017). "photographing the intimate, ordinary lives of india's illegal lgbtq community". i-D. Retrieved 2020-10-26.
  14. "Documenting the Secret Lives of India's LGBTQ Youth". Vice. Retrieved 2020-10-26.
  15. "RPS Awardees in conversation... Sunil Gupta HonFRPS". Royal Photographic Society. Retrieved 2020-11-26.
  16. "Sunil Gupta". Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver. Retrieved 2020-10-26.
  17. "Where they're coming from". Los Angeles Times. 19 September 2004. Retrieved 2020-10-26.
  18. "Sunil Gupta". National Gallery of Canada. Retrieved 2020-10-26.
  19. "'Dissent and Desire' Shows the Complexity of LGBTQ Life in India". Houstonia (magazine). Retrieved 2020-10-26.
  20. "Sunil Gupta: photographing India's queer scene over 50 years". The Face. Retrieved 2020-10-25.
  21. Williams, Elaine. "Review: Pictures of hope and despair". New Scientist. Retrieved 2020-10-28.
  22. "Sunil Gupta". The Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved 2020-10-25.
  23. "Philadelphia Museum of Art - Collections Object : Untitled". Philadelphia Museum of Art. Retrieved 2020-10-25.
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