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.[5]

Early life and education

Gupta was born in New Delhi, India in 1953.[6] 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).[7][6][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.[8]

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][9]

Other activities

Gupta was one of the founders of the Association of Black Photographers (now Autograph ABP) in London in 1988.[10] In 2019, he served on the jury that chose Susan Meiselas for the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize.[11]

Personal life

In 1983 Gupta settled in London.[12]

Gupta is married to Charan Singh, also a photographer.[13] They live in Camberwell, London.[13]

Gupta was diagnosed with HIV in 1995.[13]

Publications

Books of work by Gupta

Books of work with others

Books edited by Gupta

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. ^ a b Tate. "Sunil Gupta born 1953". Tate. Retrieved 25 October 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g "Sunil Gupta on his life, his work, and gay-rights since the sixties". British Journal of Photography. 6 October 2020. Retrieved 25 October 2020.
  3. ^ "Sunil Gupta's Untitled No 12: love, poetry and protest". The Guardian. 26 June 2020. Retrieved 25 October 2020.
  4. ^ a b "Sunil Gupta's photographs document 50 years of gay liberation". The Economist. 5 November 2020. ISSN 0013-0613. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
  5. ^ "Honorary Fellowship". The Royal Photographic Society. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
  6. ^ a b "Sunil Gupta's best photograph: cruising for sex in New York City". The Guardian. 5 December 2018. Retrieved 25 October 2020.
  7. ^ "About". Sunil Gupta. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  8. ^ Fulleylove, Rebecca (3 November 2020). "Sunil Gupta on 45 years of making pictures". Creative Review. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
  9. ^ "From Here to Eternity: Sunil Gupta. A Retrospective". The Photographers' Gallery. 18 December 2019. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  10. ^ "Autograph ABP – Art Term". Tate. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  11. ^ Alex Greenberger (17 May 2019), Susan Meiselas Wins 2019 Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize ARTnews.
  12. ^ Pauline de Souza (2002). "Gupta, Sunil". In Alison Donnell (ed.). Companion to Contemporary Black British Culture. Routledge. pp. 132–3. ISBN 978-1-134-70025-7.
  13. ^ a b c Cernik, Lizzie (11 May 2020). "How we met: 'He was very sexy but also very honest and good'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 25 October 2020.
  14. ^ "Cruising on Christopher Street: Sunil Gupta's nostalgic images of New York's gay scene in 1976". Creative Boom. 21 November 2018. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  15. ^ "Sunil Gupta's Pioneering Portraits of Proud Gay Couples". AnOther. 29 September 2020. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  16. ^ ""I Put the Camera Everywhere": Sunil Gupta's Vivid Photos of 80s London". AnOther. 2 December 2021. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  17. ^ "Sunil Gupta collects his archive of London's street passers-by in the 1980s in a new book - 1854 Photography". www.1854.photography. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  18. ^ Ongley, Hannah (10 April 2017). "photographing the intimate, ordinary lives of india's illegal lgbtq community". i-D. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  19. ^ "Documenting the Secret Lives of India's LGBTQ Youth". Vice. 12 November 2016. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  20. ^ "RPS Awardees in conversation... Sunil Gupta HonFRPS". Royal Photographic Society. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
  21. ^ "Sunil Gupta". Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  22. ^ "Where they're coming from". Los Angeles Times. 19 September 2004. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  23. ^ "Sunil Gupta". National Gallery of Canada. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  24. ^ "'Dissent and Desire' Shows the Complexity of LGBTQ Life in India". Houstonia. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  25. ^ "Sunil Gupta: photographing India's queer scene over 50 years". The Face. 8 October 2020. Retrieved 25 October 2020.
  26. ^ Williams, Elaine. "Review: Pictures of hope and despair". New Scientist. Retrieved 28 October 2020.
  27. ^ "Sunil Gupta". The Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved 25 October 2020.
  28. ^ "Philadelphia Museum of Art - Collections Object : Untitled". Philadelphia Museum of Art. Retrieved 25 October 2020.

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