Christopher Street 1976

By Sunil Gupta, Stanley Barker, London, 2018. Edition of 1.000 copies. Signed by the artist. Text in English. Unpaginated (100 pages). Spiral bound printed boards. 29,5 x 22 cm. Condition : Excellent.

250€

An unique book about one of the most influential place for the gay community : Christopher Street in Manhattan. There are certain books that bring everything together: the subject, the photographs, the binding, the cover. A publishing gem. “Christopher Street was shot in New York in 1976 when I spent a year studying photography with Lisette Model, Philippe Halsman and George Tice at the New School. It was a turning point as I had originally arrived in the city to enrol in an MBA programme.
I spent my weekends cruising with my camera, it was the heady days after Stonewall and before Aids when we were young and busy creating a gay public space such as hadn’t really been seen before. It was the first time I was living in a city that seemed full of photography. There were numerous commercial galleries and the museums had permanent displays of the history of photography on show […] Every street corner in New York seemed to be different and unique. Christopher Street became my natural habitat. I was one of the tribe and I wanted to be noticed. I wasn’t spying on the inhabitants. I made myself as visible as possible and walked up to people. In retrospect, these pictures have become both nostalgic and iconic for a very important moment in my personal history and the struggle for gay liberation that had far-reaching consequences across the globe”.