Sunil Gupta (born 1953) is an Indian-born Canadian photographer, based in London, England. His work explores themes of sexual identity, migration, race, and family. Gupta has produced a number of books and his work is held in the collections including 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. He was awarded an Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2026 Birthday Honours for services to art and to the LGBTQ+ communities.
Early life and education Sunil Gupta was born in New Delhi, India, in 1953. He attended St. Columba's High School in New Delhi until 1969. In 1969, Gupta migrated to Montreal, Canada, with his family. There, he attended High School of Montreal until 1970. From 1970-1972, he studied at Dawson College, Montreal.
From 1972–1977, Gupta studied for a Bachelor of Commerce in Accountancy at Concordia University, Montreal. Whilst there, he embraced his sexuality for the first time. He joined a campus gay liberation movement group and took photographs for its newspaper.
In 1976, Gupta studied photography under Philip Halsman and Lisette Model at The New School for Social Research, New York City. From 1978–1981 he studied for a diploma in photography at West Surrey College of Art and Design, Farnham, UK. From 1981–1983 he gained an MA in photography at the Royal College of Art in London. In 2018, he gained a PhD at the University of Westminster, London (2018).
Work Gupta's career has been spent "making work responding to the injustices suffered by gay men across the globe, himself included", including themes of sexual identity, migration, race, family and decolonisation. His work is fundamentally political, exploring the politics of his own life as a queer, Asian man.
Gupta's 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).
Gupta has described his portraiture as a "constructed documentary style". He has also created self-portraits, such as in his series Here to Eternity (1999), which was made partly in response to a period of illness brought on by HIV.
Career
In 1983, Gupta moved to London.
In 1988, Gupta was one of the founders of the Association of Black Photographers (now Autograph ABP) in London.
In 2019, he served on the jury that chose Susan Meiselas for the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize.Greenberger, Alex (17 May 2019), Susan Meiselas Wins 2019 Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize, ARTnews.
From 2020-2021, Gupta held the exhibition From Here to Eternity: Sunil Gupta. A Retrospective at the Photographer's Gallery in London. The exhibition featured images from his series The New Pre-Raphelites (2008) and Sun City (2010), amongst others.
Gupta was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2026 Birthday Honours for services to art and to the LGBTQ+ communities.
Personal life Gupta is married to Charan Singh, also a photographer. They live in Camberwell, south London.
Gupta was diagnosed with HIV in 1995.
Publications Books of work by Gupta Pictures From Here. 2003. . Wish you Were Here: Memories of a gay life. New Delhi: Yoda, 2008. . Queer. Prestel, 2011. . Christopher Street 1976. London: Stanley/Barker, 2018. . Lovers: Ten Years On. London: Stanley/Barker, 2020. . London '82. London: Stanley/Barker, 2021. .
Books of work with others Delhi: Communities of Belonging. With Charan Singh. New Press, 2016. .
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. . 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 2026 – Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) Honorary Fellow, Royal College of Art Honorary Doctorate, University of York
Exhibitions Solo exhibitions and exhibitions paired with others
YearTitleInstitutionLocationNotesRef1994Trespass 3Contemporary Art GalleryVancouver2004HomelandsUCR/California Museum of Photography, University of California, RiversideCalifornia2005 - 2006Sunil GuptaCanadian Museum of Contemporary PhotographyOttawa2018Dissent and DesireContemporary Arts Museum HoustonHouston, TexasWith Charan Singh2020 - 2021From Here to Eternity: Sunil Gupta. A RetrospectiveThe Photographers' GalleryLondonCurated by Mark Sealy
Exhibitions curated by Gupta Ecstatic Antibodies, Impressions Gallery, York, 1990; and toured to Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff, 1990/1991; and elsewhere.
Collections Gupta's work is held in the following permanent collections:
Museum of Modern Art, New York: 2 prints (as of October 2020) Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Tate, UK: 18 prints (as of October 2020)
References
External links
"Sunil Gupta’s life in photos" at i-D