With her photographic series Acts of Appearance, Gauri Gill presents members of the Adivasi community in Jawhar, Maharashtra, India, wearing masks as they “perform” their daily activities. The community’s members are known for the papier-mâché objects that they create, including traditional masks that suggest spiritual beings. For Acts of Appearance, Gill commissioned craftsmen brothers Subhas and Bhagvan Dharma Kadu to produce a new set of masks, inspired instead by the community’s contemporary reality. In Gill’s framing, the masquerade upturns the conventions of the ethnographic gaze: although the villagers’ faces are hidden, their existence is reaffirmed through the object of disguise.

Exhibited work(s):
Acts of Appearance series (2015–ongoing)
Untitled 3
Untitled 4
Untitled 6
Untitled 7
Untitled 8
Untitled 9
Untitled 13
Untitled 27
Untitled 28
Untitled 31
Untitled 32
Untitled 33
Untitled 40
Untitled 45
Untitled 48
Untitled 52
Untitled 53

Born

1970, Chandigarh, India

Countries / Nations

India

Lives

New Delhi, India

Website

gaurigill.com