Soham GUPTA
Wait until dark
To 27 May
Rencontres de la jeune photographie internationale 2023
This exhibition brings together Desi Boys and a large excerpt from Angst.
Desi Boys (never-before-seen exhibition) focuses on the unique phenomenon of the sartorial choices and popular hip-hop movement that have helped marginalized youth find an outlet and make their voices heard despite the obstacles in a country like India, where class and caste tensions, xenophobia and wide income disparities are endemic.
This youth movement is fueled by the democratization of smartphones, as well as the boom in service markets, resulting in a sudden demand for jobs for economically marginalized youth. This provides them with significant disposable income, enabling them to indulge their passion for fashion and music.
Young men look after their style, take selfies and, often in groups, splurge by hiring photographers to take their portrait.
Angst
First shown in 2016 during her residency in Niort, this year we are exhibiting a large extract from the exhibition produced by Maison Robert Doisneau in 2022.
” His series on the poor of Calcutta, met at close quarters in a park in his hometown, sums up his work perfectly. Whether leprous and deformed, abysmally sad or on the verge of madness, truth floods through his portraits. What is fundamentally different from images already seen on the subject is his ability to express reality without lapsing into the pathos of miserabilism. The image is there, as it is, and he leaves it to the freedom of each viewer with impressive wisdom.” Sébastien Acker
Practical information
Biography
Based in Calcutta, Soham Gupta’s work constantly moves between the realms of documentary photography, art and writing. It responds to themes of loneliness and isolation, abuse and pain, scarred pasts and uncertain futures, sexual ten- sions and existential dilemmas.
In 2018, Soham was selected by The British Journal of Photography as one of sixteen emerging photographers from over 500 nominations made by a global panel of experts. In the same year, his book, Angst published by Akina Books was shortlisted for Les Prix du Livre: Photo and Text Book Award at Rencontres d’Arles and the First Photobook Award from Paris Photo – Aperture Foundation. He was one of the guest artists at the 58th VeniceBiennale , curated by Ralph Rugoff, in 2019. In the same year, the Folkwang Museum in Essen, Germany, acquired a large number of prints from the Angst series.
Soham was recently included in a group show, After August Sander, at the MGK Siegen, Germany, along with Collier Schorr, Tobias Zielony and 13 other artists. In 2022 he also had his first solo show in France, with over a hundred prints at the Maison Robert Doisneau. The Sakshi Gallery in Bombay represents him in India, and Soham also works frequently with CIMA in Calcutta.