We Were Here: Sexuality, Photography, and Cultural Difference

by Sunil Gupta

We Were Here: Sexuality, Photography, and Cultural Difference offers an unparalleled firsthand account of the influential photographer and curator Sunil Gupta's writing and critical inquiry since the 1970s.

Newspaper articles, speeches, and essays show Gupta's crucial role at the center of grassroots queer and postcolonial organizing throughout an artistic career lived between Canada, the UK, and India. In his pieces about homosexuality in Indian cities, the AIDS crisis, the Black Arts Movement, or key figures including Joy Gregory and Robert Mapplethorpe, Gupta foregrounds the power of cultural activism in the politically fraught contexts of London and Delhi, and illuminates the essential connections between queer migration and self-discovery. Continually questioning given forms of identity, Gupta offers artists and curators multiple strategies of resistance, carving out space for new ways of imagining what it might mean to live, love, and create.

Genres: Photography

224 pages, Paperback

Published September 22, 2022

About the author

India's best-known working photographer, Gupta is also a well-known artist, curator, and writer.

Reviews

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some really interesting essays in here. The earlier works are more relevant to my current interests however, I really enjoyed the inclusion of Gupta's thesis. This learns more on the academic side but Gupta's writing is accessible and I work recommend this to anyone with an interest in Art history and post colonial studies.

[Connor Ellis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Felt like more of an academic read, but it connects my love for history, photography, etc