Lovers & other stories

This project was started in early 1984 as a direct result of my own relationship going awry. I met my lover in the early 1970’s when the impact of the gay movement upon the consciousness of gay men was just gaining ground. Then, gay was good and gay was proud. The laws against gay men were being turned back. The definition of homosexuality as a psychiatric disorder was successfully challenged. The commercial scene and the visibility of gay men expanded to unprecedented levels. Although, while this provided the individual with the means for unstigmatised sexual experimentation in relatively safe venues, this is hardly dented the attitudes and legal structures which oppressed gay relationships. The developing radical ideology was not very sympathetic either.

The arrival of AIDS changed all this. Gay men have come under attack as a group, from the state and its various channels. The media have mounted a vicious campaign to label gay men as sick and irresponsible. Gay men have almost exclusively been represented as ill. Patients of some durable disease that has been equated with their sexuality. On the strength of this fallacy once again there is talk of reinstating repressive laws. Once again “expert medical advisors” are in on the act with their labels and talk of containment. Couples seem to have come into their own. Gay self help groups encourage a change in sexual behaviour and a reduction in the number of partners. However, still without legal recognition, with the new emphasis on monogamy, with social attitudes reverting to hostility and given the visibility off day-to-day file for gay men within relationships, being a partner now and prove to be as difficult as it was a decade ago.

With one exception these photographs were made in London. The couples define themselves as such by various criteria; some live together, some don’t, some have been together a short time, some are very long time, and so on. I believe the relationship between gay men is an important but often neglected component of their lives. © Sunil Gupta London 1985”

The video work, “Come Out” 2024 is based on a compilation of the book of the same name published by Stanley Barker, London. It is a collection of queer people at various political demonstrations and pride marches in London across the mid 80s to the early 90s.

“India Postcard” was commissioned by Channel 4/Fulcrum for the series “Out on Tuesday”, the first broadcast series on LGBT lives in the UK in 1988.

Further information:

https://www.artworkarchive.com/rooms/sunil-gupta/70ef8a