Boys don’t shy, and same goes with girls

...who're in love with those of their own kind. world-renowned lensman of indian origin, Sunil Gupta, explores gay love in all its piety and pathos in his ongoing exhibition titled Love, Undetectable

Gay love, argue those from the community, is most often misunderstood as a trivial, unnatural sexual indulgence. Here comes an attempt to dispel the delusion. Internationally acclaimed gay photo-artist from Delhi, Sunil Gupta, who's suffered much due to societal homophobia,u00a0 has put up a showu00a0 that he hopes will change perspectives and help the world understand same-sex bonding better. We talked it over.

Why Love, Undetectable?
Because love, which is absolute emotion, can't be measured. You can never quantify the excitement of meeting a new person, the joy of sharing space, the pain if you part ways and the hatred that might come with the separation. On the other hand, there're clinical repercussions of love, too AIDS, which can be detected, measured and monitored. It's this intersection that my exhibition takes you to.

What are the main media used?
There're four photographs, installations, texts and three videos.

Are the characters in your compositions real?
Yes. They are people from the community; not models. I know most of them either directly, or through friends.

Were they hesitant?
Many were; many weren't. But it's only natural to be apprehensive while making oneself the subject of public exhibition.u00a0 Many people from the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual) community distance themselves from open appearances in public domain because they fear the moral policing, legal implications and embarrassment.u00a0u00a0
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So, how did you manage to convince them?
I explained them the aesthetics and philosophy of the shoot, and they said, why not.

Do you think the amendment in Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code will help start a new cutural wave?
Yes. In times to come, you will see a lot of creative cultural productions like books, paintings, photographs and theatre that's by and for the differently inclined. The change will propel positive discussion.

Are there shades from your own personal life and suffering, too?
Art in any form is an artist's perception of situations that he has gone through, the way he dealt with them and lessons he's learnt.

What are these lessons?
I tested (HIV) positive in 1995. My partner and I had to break up to fight the scare stemming from this. Things aren't the same, no matter how hard you try. People around you either start bugging you with their prejudice, or start caring for you so much that you start feeling self-pity. I have lived in isolation for more than a decade; it's just been me. The feeling kills.

Do such opinions subside with time, as people start to forget?
They don't. First, when the doctor informs you that you're positive, you can't accept it yourself; leave aside family, friends and relatives. The initial sympathy gets transformed into anger and then into suspicion. Everyone looks at you suspiciously, and thinks you must've done something wrong to be where you are. You're left to suffer in solitude.

How did you cope with the pain?
I went in for therapies and professional help.

Have you found love again?
Yes, someone is waiting for me across the road. Someone who loves me for what I am, and not what he or she wants me to be.

Love, undetectable
On till: September 25
Where: Vadehra art gallery D-178, Okhla Phase 1
Timings: 11 am to 7 pm
Ring: 65474005, 65474006