The New Pre-Raphaelites is a project centered on LGBTQ+ rights in India. Living in India at the time, Gupta was a key figure in the arts scene, making work that explored and documented queer lives. This body of photographs were made in response to Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, a 19th century law criminalising homosexuality. The starting point for each work is a Pre-Raphaelite painting, drawing on the movement’s use of classical iconography to make a rebellious point about burgeoning sexuality. 

The Pre-Raphaelites—a group of painters and poets founded in 1848 —stood for a reformation of art and expression, contesting stifling norms of the classical Victorian pose. Instead, they made paintings which focused on luminosity and detail to reflect nature. Gupta states ‘I was struck first by the vividness of the [paintings’] colors and then by the ambivalent sexuality of their subject matter.’ He interprets the sensuality of the poses in the paintings to visualise a modern Indian queer identity in his photographs.  

This photograph is a reference to John William Waterhouse’s ‘Sleep and his Half-brother Death’ (1874). The pose mirrors the original painting which refers to the Greek gods Hypnos (sleep) and Thanatos (death).