By Vikram Tyagi
Day: Hot sunny afternoon
Location: Hauz Khas Village, Delhi
Time: It’s queer!
As he puffs away life into the rings of a cigarette smoke, I am reminded of an old couplet by Mirza Ghalib,
“Hazaaron khwaishein aisi ke har khwaish pe dum nikle,
bohot nikle mere armaan lekin phir bhi kam nikle.”
Sunil Gupta
Sunil Gupta is a prodigy when it comes to snapping portraits and infusing another life into them. In his latest series, “Queer”, Sunil has rolled some of his most prominent works captured in past odd 40 years, since 1970. The various collections travel across time and space, beginning from Montreal and going on to New York, London, Sun City, Paris and finally, Delhi.
Vikram Tyagi (VT): You know a lot of people even today find the word ‘queer’ to be quite derogatory. Why did you have to pick such a title for your book?
Sunil Gupta (SG): The title of my book, “Queer”, is inspired from the 1960s educated, elite western class where an open gay man/woman was termed ‘queer’. It did have misleading connotations even then but the words keep changing their meaning with time and situation.
VT: The book is quite bold in its content, then why does the cover design depict a man hidden behind a mask?
SG: This is the decision taken by a committee. A certain section of the Indian society may say that they are cool with homosexuality, but in reality, we’re still struggling to fathom it completely. Moreover, we didn’t want to restrict our readership. I had personally chosen a photograph where two men are lying over each other.
VT: The book opens up to a montage of shots of poor queers in Delhi, entitled ‘Towards an Indian Gay Image, 1980-1983′. What’s up with the name?
SG: I am keen to explore the true image of a well dressed Indian gay man: somebody who is hesitant to be recognised in the open and leads a very conventional Indian lifestyle. This is perhaps the reason why you see a couple of them turning their back to my camera. It’s seldom that we manage to find people from our daily lives who are comfortable with getting themselves clicked and published. It’s frustrating.
VT: I really like this photograph with both these men lying together, oblivious to the world’s concerns. What place is this?
SG: This is The Jamali-Kamali complex. (As per the oral tradition, Jamali and Kamali were gay lovers too). Both these men were getting cosy inside the tomb where I spotted them.
VT: And the Qutab Minar emerging strategically from one man’s pelvis…
SG: Most of Delhi’s monuments represent femininity with domes all over, and the Qutab Minar is the only phallic symbol.
VT: You have spent most of your life abroad. How different is the status of queer folks out there?
SG: In India, everything is separated by class. If you go to a gay pub abroad, you’d find men from all strata of society, unlike India, where lower and middle class gets stuck with typical norms. Money somehow makes life easier and allows one to be more open and to live freely.
VT: What used to be fashionable with gay men abroad in those early days?
SG: Some of the shots were taken at Christopher Street. You’d notice the gay fashion here typically comprised of Levi’s jeans with a hint of moustache, which was considered a sign of masculinity way back.
VT: Your self-portrait with a naked couple in the background looks not only strange, but disturbing too.
SG: I was asked to keep a self-portrait in the book. This particular photograph is a social statement about my HIV+ status. It’s depicts how I am separated from any such physical pleasure. I can’t kiss another man, certainly.
VT: I was expecting at least one photograph of a happy gay couple and their kids.
SG: I did click a lesbian couple with their kid but later they got hesitant about having the picture out in the open. I have kept a photograph of a gay man and his mother.
VT: Which is your favorite section from the lot?
SG: ‘Sun City, Paris’ is the most recent of all the collections and the most cherished one as well. It portrays a typical Indian man who looks hefty and hairy, clubbed with a European guy who has a smooth gym-toned body. This section of photographs not only deals with gay identity but also race politics.
What I believe is that it is the same with gays as with heterosexuals in relationships. Fears, complexes and exploitation. Since there is no social support in this case, they feel more vulnerable. Already under continuous pressure and very few peers to go for moral support, they don’t wish to take risk to be identified by more people and further increase their agony. That is the reason why so few people take plunge and join the LGBT walks and parades.