Public Lecture: Sunil Gupta, ‘From Here to Eternity – Race, Migration and Queer Identity’

Wednesday 12th February, 2020

6:00 pm, QMUL Mile End Campus, Arts One LT

RSVP via Eventbrite here: qmsunilgupta.eventbrite.com

In this South Asia Forum public lecture, Sunil Gupta will critically address issues of race, migration and queer identity with a focus on India in relation to his photographic practice since the 1970s. Over the last thirty years, Gupta’s work has focused on agency and empowerment in India’s gay communities, where until September 2018 homosexuality was a criminal act under colonial-era law, punishable with ten years of imprisonment.

Sunil Gupta (b. New Delhi 1953) PhD (University of Westminster) was educated at the Royal College of Art and has been involved with independent photography as a critical practice for many years focusing on race, migration and queer issues. His latest show (with Charan Singh), Dissent and Desire, was at the 2018 Kochi-Muziris Biennale in Kochi, India, and his latest book is Christopher Street 1976 (Stanley Barker 2018). His work has been seen in many important group shows including Paris-Delhi-Bombay at the Pompidou Centre in Paris, 2011, and is currently on show at Tate Modern and Tate Britain. He is a Professorial Fellow at University of the Creative Arts, Visiting Lecturer at Kingston University and Visiting Tutor at the Royal College of Art, London. He was Lead Curator for the Houston Fotofest 2018. His work is in many private and public collections including: George Eastman House (Rochester, USA); Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography; Royal Ontario Museum; Tate; Harvard University; and the Museum of Modern Art. His work is represented by Hales Gallery (London and New York), Vadehra Art Gallery (New Delhi) and Stephen Bulger Gallery (Toronto).

Image courtesy of Sunil Gupta: Selfie with Saleem Kidwai, Qutb Minar, Delhi 1980. www.sunilgupta.net

This event is supported by the Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences, QMUL.