Sunil Gupta and Fiona Anderson will discuss two of the artist鈥檚 photographic series,听Exiles听and听Mr Malhotra鈥檚 Party,听in relation to the MA Curating exhibition听Unquiet Moments: Capturing the Everyday.
In 1986, Sunil Gupta was commissioned by the Photographer鈥檚 Gallery to document the lives of gay men in Delhi.听The resulting photographs, which feature a group of anonymous volunteers, provide visual evidence of private moments of love and friendship that typically went undocumented.听Exiles听has been described by Gupta as 鈥榮taged documentary鈥, originating from an activist imperative to create images of a community he felt 鈥榡ust didn鈥檛 seem to exist鈥 within cultural production. When Gupta听returned听to India in 2007, he found the younger generation more willing to identify themselves. In听Mr Malhotra鈥檚 Party, named听individuals were听photographed in spaces they live and work in,听inscribing their presence听as within the city鈥檚 social scene and family structures.听
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This artist鈥檚 talk will place these two series in dialogue, exploring the continuities and differences听between both bodies of work. Gupta and Anderson will听discuss听the activist impulse behind both series, Gupta鈥檚 photographic process, and the reception of these images in relation to mainstream coverage of queer communities in India. This talk is part of a series of events programmed around听Unquiet Moments: Capturing the Everyday,听an online听exhibition of听images and objects that capture the small wonders and disappointments, the intimate joys and tragedies, that shape our lives. As diaries of personal experience, portraits of families and communities, or traces of loss, these works of art call us to reflect upon the many ways in which we construct archives of our lives and memories.鈥听
Sunil Gupta听is a Canadian citizen, (b. New Delhi 1953) MA (Royal College of Art) PhD (University of Westminster) who has been involved with independent photography as a critical practice for many years听focusing on race, migration and queer issues. His recent show (with听Charan听Singh), 鈥淒issent and听Desire鈥 was听at the Contemporary Art Museum, Houston and听迟丑别听 Kochi鈥Muziris听Biennale, Kochi, India 2018 and his听latest book is 鈥淐hristopher Street 1976鈥, Stanley Barker 2018. His work has been seen in many important听group听shows听including 鈥淧aris, Bombay, Delhi鈥︹ at the Pompidou Centre, Paris 2011 and 鈥淢asculinities鈥 at Barbican, London. His retrospective takes place at The Photographers鈥 Gallery London (2020) and Ryerson Image听Ceter听(Toronto) 2021. He is a Professorial Fellow at UCA,听Farnham, and Visiting Tutor at the Royal College of Art, London. He was Lead Curator for the Houston听Fotofest听2018. His work is in many private and public collections听including;听George Eastman House (Rochester, USA), Tokyo Metropolitan听Museum of Photography, Royal Ontario Museum, Tate, Harvard University and the Museum of Modern Art, New York.听
Dr Fiona Anderson is听Senior Lecturer in Art History in the Fine Art department at Newcastle University. Her work explores LGBTQ social and sexual cultures and art from the 1970s to the present with a particular interest in practices of gentrification and preservation, queer听world making practices and the politics of urban space, mostly in the USA and the UK. She is the author of听Cruising the Dead River: David Wojnarowicz and听New York鈥檚 Ruined Waterfront听(University of Chicago Press,听2019).听From 2016-2019, she was the UK Principal Investigator for听鈥婥ruising the Seventies: Unearthing Pre-HIV/AIDS Queer听Sexual Cultures听(CRUSEV), a pan-European collaborative research project which听explored LGBTQ social and sexual cultures of the 1970s and their significance for LGBTQ people and queer artmaking across Europe now and in the future.
Curated by MA Curating the Art Museum Group听
The 91自拍 and Somerset House collaborative digital programme is supported by
