KETTLES YARD - SUNIL GUPTA LIFE WITH A CAMERA

Kettles Yard have done a deep dive away from their super successful Flower Painting Exhibition ( if you didn’t see it, switch straightaway to our archive where you will find every single exhibit just waiting for an inspirational appraisal.)

‘But back to Sunil Gupta: Life with a Camera, 1970 which features five decades of his work since 1953. He is a hero in his art and in his life, dedicated to liberation and freedom of expression for gay and LBTQ people world wife. He raised awareness around the fight for queer rights internationally back in the 50s and this exhibition features no fewer than 140 photographs to outline his journey of activism , some within the brutal confines of his native India .He intends to make his images underscore his relentless activism but in his long career he has also made inroads into digital photography, perforce since the era of film faded during his long life with the camera.

How broad will be the interest in this show beyond fellow activists is hard to say, but it certainly gives Sunil Gupta a place in the sun , whether that has meant too much exposure is a matter of opinon but it will be in place over Christmas and on to the beginning of February.

Some of the images are entirely blissful. Above we feature the bucolic rural colour of a warm harvest and duo surveying the parkland. Less appealing are the more explicit predictable views of men in saunas or enjoying personal intimacy. When he withdraws to the more universal impressions of society and landscape there is still scope for his sharp views of the society around him. Not featured the rearrangement of the famous Death of Marat painting for me it is is sublimely successful - and moving

Sunil Gupta is the Man of the Moment, despite his age, and this is yet another accolade to his talent and dedication.