|
|
|
Jan 10, 2000 |
INDIA TODAY | DAILY NEWS | ASTROLOGY | HOME |
 |
 |
|
 Caught on camera A gay Indian photographer based in London makes a searing commentary on life on the fringes Sunil Gupta does not open doors. As always, with his exhibition entitled "From Here to Eternity" running in New York now, he smashes down walls, standing naked, without even a fig leaf for cover. As a gay Indian photographer based in the UK, Gupta, who is HIV-positive, is tired of pretences. For many viewers, the exhibition -- a retrospective at Admit One Gallery on till January 22 -- is alien ground. The world of South Asian gays is largely invisible in the US. And Gupta makes a searing commentary through his portraits, particularly in the series "From Here to Eternity" that documents his life after HIV. In these diptychs Gupta all but steps outside his body to view himself as blood is drawn from his arm, as he inhales the drugs. In another image entitled Christmas, he stands naked beside a mangled tree, the lesions showing on his body. Notes London-based critic Emmanuel Cooper: "This is no Polaroid snap of happy bedroom frolics, but a sombre questioning, Who am I?" There's been plenty of that in the 46-year-old lensman's life. There were no Indians in his school when Gupta migrated from Delhi to Montreal at the age of 15. On the home front, his parents disparaged his interest in photography as something done only "by white people". While struggling with his sexuality, Gupta -- who is a full-fledged accountant -- was dabbling in photography on the side, taking images of patrons in a gay bar he frequented. In the late '70s, he dumped his management studies in New York to take up full time. A good part of the current retro is devoted to the time in the '80s when Gupta travelled to India. He was shocked at the marginalisation of gays. Yet there is levity in Lakshmi in which two gay men in drag embrace in front of a picture of the goddess tacked on a closet. Explains Gupta: "There is isolation, invisibility and fear but people are emerging because of the women's movement and feminism. Hence the picture of Lakshmi." His "Trespass" series, part of the current show, is the first in which he used digital collaging and manipulation to juxtapose himself with European settings, evoking broader issues of race. The return to roots may happen again. The University of South Hampton has just awarded Gupta a fellowship which will enable him to travel to India to shoot the stories of HIV-positive people here. What does he hope people will take away from viewing his work? "One important audience has been other Indian men," he says. "They've never seen anything like this before." You can say that again. -Lavina Melwani
|
|
BUSINESS TODAY | INDIA TODAY PLUS | COMPUTERS TODAY Write to us | Subscriptions | Advertise with
us |
