(via Art & Photography: Sunil Gupta | Feature Shoot)

(via Art & Photography: Sunil Gupta | Feature Shoot)

Sunil Gupta is an Indian born artist and photographer based in London. Queer is his first monograph and offers a comprehensive overview of his work from the 1970s to the present. For decades he has explored narratives of contemporary gay life; tackled issues of gender and sexuality; and documented his own experiences living with AIDS. Queer is published by Prestel and is available on Amazon.

(via artraaga.com » Queer Sunil Gupta.)

Vadehra Art Gallery has released its latest publication Queer Sunil Gupta. The book is in collaboration with the international publishers Prestel.  It follows from the Shilpa Gupta monograph published by the same in 2010. This is an international monograph on a very important Indian photographer and features selections from each of his major series from 1970s onwards, offering a comprehensive overview of his works to date.

Gupta is also a well-known artist, curator and writer. For decades he has explored narratives of contemporary gay life in India and other parts of the world; tackled issues of gender and sexuality; and documented his own experiences living with AIDS.The hardcover 140-page publication with 80 colour illustrations has an illuminating essay by Canadian curator Keith Wallace and a conversation between historian Saleem Kidwai and Sunil Gupta. Above all it chronicles Gupta’s divergent photographic series that range from narrative portraits to fictional photo essays.

‘Windmills of My Mind’s post on the launch night in London here

Sunil Gupta discusses his photo-book Queer and tells Shana Maria Verghis how gay issues in India and US differ, the latest developments on Section 377 and that it is still hard to find a place to hang out with his tribe in Delhi.

On July 2, 2009, a provision in Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code which criminalised sexual acts of adults in private, was struck down. The verdict was that it violated the Right to Equality, Protection of Life and Liberty. Photographer Sunil Gupta, who also works with the queer collective Nigah, explained that, “We recently went to the Supreme Court again, because many petitions were filed against the judgment by religious and extremist groups. But now there is a recess for the summer break.”

In collaboration with Vadhera Art Gallery, Gupta brought out collections of various photo-documentaries he shot over the years in a book called Queer. This provides glimpses into gay communities in India, US and Europe, among whom he has lived and worked.

Gupta had moved to US to study in the 60s, when the country was in flux of the Civil Rights Movements, feminism and Gay Pride marches. A mood he said he feels in India now, where he returned to settle in 2005. He told us, “It is like I’m reliving my youth.”