Sunil Gupta, Exiles, Delhi 1968 - 1987 / 2025

This photograph has been especially selected for Artists for Kettle’s Yard and is available to buy for the first time. The image is an ‘outtake’ from the seminal series Exiles (1986-1987), in which Sunil Gupta photographed gay men at well-known cruising sites and more private locations across Delhi, at a time when homosexuality was illegal in India. The finished prints are often presented alongside quotations as if spoken by their subjects. Exiles reflects Gupta’s skill in suggesting the nuanced relationship between individuality and community, making gay Indian men visible at a time when they were largely invisible within society. Sunil Gupta is a pioneering photographer renowned for images that are both forthright and sensitive in their social and political commentary. His work explores themes of race, migration and queerness, giving space to – and immortalising – individual and collective identities.

 

The subject of a major survey exhibition at Kettle’s Yard opening in September 2026, Gupta’s work is represented in collections including Tate, London; Museum of Modern Art, New York; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, and Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi.