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 pretenses.
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?"
