A Return From Exile
Exiles. Yes, that's what I called my photo art project in the 1980s that took a close personal look at gay life in Delhi. Well, what passed for gay life, at any rate. It wasn't a very happy scene. A few like me found ourselves outside the country and chose to remain there. Those that were here made the best of it by remaining as silent and invisible as possible.
The nineties came and went. I became part of the great Indian Diaspora. To distance myself from it, I focused my research and work in other parts of the world; Australia, South Africa, Malaysia. Home became London, that melting pot of Diasporas. Gays there came in all shades of skin tone and ethnic origin.
At the turn of the Millennium the news from Delhi became more positive. Gay life was making itself felt and things were getting better. Wouldn't I like to show my work here? The question was asked. I made another body of work seeking to locate the geography of homelands. There was Canada, where my parents had migrated to, there was New York, where I had gone to finally escape from them, then there was London, what seemed like my final resting place. But, inescapably there was Delhi.
Here, where I was born and bred. Some of whose central neighbourhoods are etched in my memory. Nizamuddin which was home and Humayun's Tomb which was a fantastic playground.
In 2004 I finally got to show all this work at Habitat's Art Gallery and met a wide variety of people. One of whom laid a healing hand on my shoulder. In response I decided to move back here. To become part of the changing face of Delhi. And to reconnect with a long, lost gay childhood.
© Sunil Gupta, Delhi 2006
The nineties came and went. I became part of the great Indian Diaspora. To distance myself from it, I focused my research and work in other parts of the world; Australia, South Africa, Malaysia. Home became London, that melting pot of Diasporas. Gays there came in all shades of skin tone and ethnic origin.
At the turn of the Millennium the news from Delhi became more positive. Gay life was making itself felt and things were getting better. Wouldn't I like to show my work here? The question was asked. I made another body of work seeking to locate the geography of homelands. There was Canada, where my parents had migrated to, there was New York, where I had gone to finally escape from them, then there was London, what seemed like my final resting place. But, inescapably there was Delhi.
Here, where I was born and bred. Some of whose central neighbourhoods are etched in my memory. Nizamuddin which was home and Humayun's Tomb which was a fantastic playground.
In 2004 I finally got to show all this work at Habitat's Art Gallery and met a wide variety of people. One of whom laid a healing hand on my shoulder. In response I decided to move back here. To become part of the changing face of Delhi. And to reconnect with a long, lost gay childhood.
© Sunil Gupta, Delhi 2006
