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.^[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

• 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.^[14]
• Lovers: Ten Years On. London: Stanley/Barker, 2020. ISBN 978-1-913288-12-9.^[15]
• London '82. London: Stanley/Barker, 2021. ISBN 978-1-913288-31-0.^[16][17]

Books of work with others

• Delhi: Communities of Belonging. With Charan Singh. New Press, 2016. ISBN 978-1-62097-265-6.^[18][19]

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

• 2020: Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Photographic Society, Bristol^[20]

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions and exhibitions paired with others

• Trespass 3, Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver, 1994^[21]
• Homelands, UCR/California Museum of Photography, University of California, Riverside, 2004^[22]
• Sunil Gupta, Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography, Ottawa, Canada, 2005/2006^[23]
• Dissent and Desire, Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Houston, Texas, 2018. With Charan Singh.^[24]
• From Here to Eternity: Sunil Gupta. A Retrospective, The Photographers' Gallery, London, 2020/2021^[25] Curated by Mark Sealy.^[2]

Exhibitions curated by Gupta

• Ecstatic Antibodies, Impressions Gallery, York, 1990; and toured to Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff, 1990/1991; and elsewhere.^[26]

Collections

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

• Museum of Modern Art, New York: 2 prints (as of October 2020)^[27]
• Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania^[28]
• Tate, UK: 18 prints (as of October 2020)^[1]