Sunil Gupta
dal 26/5/2003 al 26/7/2003
Segnalato da
26/5/2003
Sunil Gupta
John Hansard Gallery, Southampton
Pictures From Here, a solo exhibition showcasing Gupta's latest issue based work about HIV and place. The work featured in this exhibition makes a personal exploration of 'homeland' as experienced by the artist who has lived in London, Northern India and the Eastern part of Canada.
Pictures From Here
This summer, the John Hansard Gallery unveils new works by London based artist, Sunil Gupta. The culmination of a three year AHRB Creative and Performing Arts Research Fellowship conducted at the University of Southampton, Pictures From Here (named after the artist's new Autograph book published by Chris Boot) is a solo exhibition showcasing Gupta's latest issue based work about HIV and place.
The work featured in this exhibition makes a personal exploration of 'homeland' as experienced by the artist who has lived in London, Northern India and the Eastern part of Canada. The photo-text, photo-document and photo-juxtaposition-cum-montage pieces - specially made for this exhibition during a residency at Light Work, Syracuse University - act as an individual, cultural geography. They narrate Gupta's personal journey - from his birthplace in India, through his adopted homes in Canada and England - and his multifarious identity as a gay man of colour with HIV. They further convey the photographic struggle to visualise the complex relationships and identities that belie the Eastern landscape Gupta has inherited and the Western landscape he inhabits. His journey between them and their juxtaposition in the photographic diptych, not only depicts the artist's dislocated relationship to 'homeland' but also the spreading of the HIV virus. Developing this theme, the new video work (A World Without) Pity, 2002, documents the stories of HIV positive people and the professionals managing their treatment. Made during the artist's return to India, the accounts featured reflect Gupta's search for a mirroring of his British HIV experience in India.
Trained at the Royal College of Art, Sunil Gupta has worked as a video maker, photographer, curator, writer and academic, and shown throughout North America, India and the UK. His 2001 exhibition, Homelands, toured to London and Admit One Gallery, New York, while works from the solo exhibition From Here to Eternity (2000) were shown at Gallery Sepulchar, Manila and Admit One Gallery, New York. One of his earlier works, Exiles, was recently included in the Tate Britain exhibition Self Evident (October 2002-5 January 2003).
Pictures from Here by Sunil Gupta, is an Autograph book published by Chris Boot in September 2003 priced at £19.95. It provides an overview of the majority of Gupta's past work. Advance copies will be available through the John Hansard Gallery. The exhibition tours to New Delhi, Toronto and the California Museum of Photography in 2004.
Sunil Gupta's work is represented by Sepia International, New York.
John Hansard Gallery
University of Southampton
Highfield
Southampton
SO17 1BJ
Tel: +44 (0)23 8059 2158
Fax: +44 (0)23 8059 4192