The Covid Diaries 68 – The Photographers’ Gallery, Sunil Gupta / Evgenia Arbugaeva (LAST CHANCE TO SEE)

A review of two exhibitions at the Photographers’ Gallery in Central London. The work of Sunil Gupta addresses challenging and personal topics, and Evgenia Arbugaeva creates a dreamscape of life in the Russian Arctic.

A Tale Of Two Exhibitions

It’s been a long time since I’ve reviewed anything at the Photographers’ Gallery! The last time was in 2015, an exhibition of early Russian colour photography. Today we are exploring exhibitions by two contemporary photographers with very different styles.

The first, From Here To Eternity: Sunil Gupta. A Retrospective, surveys the work of a Delhi-born, UK-based photographer who explores sexuality, family, race, migration, and other complex issues. Gupta has been active since the 1970s, so there is a lot to see over two floors. The second exhibition on the other hand, Evgenia Arbugaeva: Hyperborea – Stories From The Russian Arctic, is a complete contrast. Arbugaeva exhibits the outcome of a long-term project to engage with remote communities in Russia. Her work has the feel of magical realism, a wintery realm where anything could happen.

The Photographers’ Gallery has the perfect space to exhibit multiple artists at once. Over five stories, small exhibition spaces remind you more of New York than London. Each flight of stairs represents a change of scene. There are some constants, though. Interestingly, one of these is a lack of information about the medium of reproduction. Often labels in photography exhibitions will tell you what type of print it is, whether it’s archival or modern, etc. Here, they don’t. I guess since it’s the Photographers’ Gallery, it really is the photographers and their vision who are at the forefront.

From Here To Eternity: Sunil Gupta. A Retrospective

I first came across Gupta’s work in last year’s Barbican exhibition Masculinities: Liberation Through Photography. The series which was on display there is here too, as are snippets of many others covering a long and fruitful career. As a young man, Gupta and his family moved from India to the West at around the same time as he came out. He has explored through his work what it means to be gay, to be from an ethnic minority, to live with HIV, in a way which is very unflinching.

What comes across very clearly the exhibition is Gupta’s versatility. An early series, Christopher Street, depicts the buoyant post-Stonewall, pre-AIDS atmosphere of the West Village. It is notably bold for his first work as a practicing artist – in most of the street-photography-style portraits, he has waited for the subject to make eye contact. It puts us as the viewers into direct contact with them. Other series, on the other hand, take the form of intimate portraits of couples; image collages portraying the impact of Empire on the UK; highly stylised echoes of Renaissance paintings; and two series which explore what it is to be gay in India.

The juxtaposition of these latter series is very interesting. The first (which is also the one that was at the Barbican), is Towards An Indian Gay Image, 1983. Gay men are depicted with quotes on their lives; they turn away from the camera, not willing to identify themselves. In the second series, Mr. Malhotra’s Party (2006-ongoing), young gay Indian men and women appear more confident. Homosexuality was decriminalised since the series began, and it appears a gay Indian identity is now more open.

Overall, Gupta’s work can be challenging, but it is consistently honest. We have the sense that we can trust Gupta to lead us into these difficult topics, emerging eventually with more empathy and understanding.

Evgenia Arbugaeva: Hyperborea – Stories From The Russian Arctic

The second exhibition on display at the Photographers’ Gallery is very different. This time we only have one photographic series, but an interesting one at that. ‘Hyperborea’ is a term from Greek mythology, a land beyond the North wind with a race of gentle giants and where the sun never set. Arbugaeva has spent the past several years in just such a magical place – the Russian communities living above the Arctic circle.

Hyperborea is organised into a few shots representing each community Arbugaeva has visited. There are indigenous communities, abandoned Soviet towns, and lonely lighthouses and weather stations. The beautiful colours and intense images transport us to another world, and reinforce its difference; we have the sense that it takes a special quality to live in this place. The deep blue walls and low lighting reinforce this atmosphere. It feels like we are snug indoors on a long winter night, sharing stories and images.

Arbugaeva grew up in Tiksi, one of the towns she has photographed. Although she now lives in London, her connection to her homeland is evident. This cannot be an easy place to represent get under the skin of, but she does it admirably. I won’t easily forget the image of a walrus peering tentatively through a doorway. So far away from anything I have known, yet a normal occurrence in this place of extremes.

From Here To Eternity: Sunil Gupta. A Retrospective: 4/5
Evgenia Arbugaeva: Hyperborea – Stories From The Russian Arctic: 3.5/5
Implementing Covid Measures: 2/5

Both exhibitions on until 31 May 2021

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