Lisa & Emily, London
- Artist: Sunil Gupta
- Date: 1984, printed 2018
- Medium: Photograph, inkjet print on paper
- Dimensions: image: 500 x 330 mm
- Museum: Tate Britain
- Collection record: Tate Britain website
Listen to the free audio guide
About this artwork
This is the “Lisa & Emily, London” by Sunil Gupta. It’s one of a series called Lovers: Ten Years On, a set of more than thirty black‑and‑white portraits of gay couples taken in the UK between 1984 and 1986. The series was created after Gupta’s own long‑term relationship ended, and he set out to document the everyday lives of couples he met in London’s professional circles.
In this image Lisa and Emily sit together in a domestic interior, framed like a traditional family photo. They look straight into the camera, their posture relaxed and affectionate, a quiet declaration of their partnership. The setting—books, art on the walls, a kitchen backdrop—ground the portrait in everyday life rather than the stereotypical “out” image of gay men at the time.
The series was made in the early years of the AIDS crisis, a period of shifting public attitudes toward homosexuality. Gupta wanted to counter the dominant narrative that framed gay men as deviant, showing instead ordinary, middle‑class couples living normal, loving relationships. It’s a powerful reminder that intimacy and commitment existed even when society turned its back.
The print you’re looking at was produced in 2018, but the original image dates from 1984. It captures a moment in time that both documents and celebrates a hidden chapter of London’s social history.
See it in person
Lisa & Emily, London is in the collection of Tate Britain on Millbank, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
