Sunil Gupta: Life with a Camera, 1970 – Now
19 September 2026 – 31 January 2027
This major survey exhibition will reveal Sunil Gupta’s (b.1953, New Delhi) pioneering contribution to photography over five decades.
Intimate, subversive and often beautiful, Gupta’s work has been instrumental in raising awareness around the fight for queer rights internationally, particularly in India and the UK, laying bare the tensions between tradition and modernity, and public and private spheres. Life with a Camera will feature more than 130 works, spanning street photography, portraits, and commissioned and personal projects, reflecting a life of migrations between Delhi, Montreal, New York and his longstanding home in London.
Gupta’s love for family, friends and partners, and his belief that everyone has the right to lead full and joyful lives – in which identity and sexuality can be celebrated without fear – shines throughout his work. Highlight series will include Friends and Lovers (1970s), documenting Gupta’s social life as a young man in Montreal; Christopher Street (1976), capturing New York’s queer community after the Stonewall riots; Mr Malhotra’s Party (2007-2012), which covers a period of intense lobbying to change anti-gay laws in India; and Dissent and Desire (with Charan Singh, 2015), a series chronicling contemporary LGBTQ+ life in Delhi.
Gallery
Access
- The galleries, where exhibitions are shown, and all areas of the Clore Learning Studio (level -1), the Research Space (level 1) and the Ede Room (level 2) are fully accessible.
- We have wheelchair accessible toilets on the lower ground (level -1), ground and first floor (level 1).
- There is a lift giving access to all floors located past the galleries, just beside the Clore Learning Studio on the ground floor.
- Kettle’s Yard welcomes assistance and service dogs in all areas.
- We have large-print versions of the wall text available.
- We can lend visitors small folding seats for taking around exhibitions or using at non-seated events. Please ask a Visitor Assistant for help finding a seat.
- There is an Audio Described Tour of this exhibition taking place on 24 November. Click here to find out more and book your place.
