Collection Online

Untitled (73)
2021
from the Acts of appearance series 2015–

Medium
inkjet print
Measurements
(106.2 × 70.5 cm) (image and sheet)
Edition
ed. 1/7
Inscription
inscribed in pencil on paper label on reverse l.r.: Gauri Gill 1/7 2021
Accession Number
2022.1569
Department
International Photography
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Bowness Family Fund for Photography, 2022
© Gauri Gill. Courtesy of the artist and James Cohan, New York
Gallery location
Not on display
About this work

A central principle in Gauri Gill’s practice is collaborative partnerships as a way to blur the line between photographer and subject. Since 2014, she has worked with the renowned mask-makers of the Maharashtra region of India and her subjects to create a collaborative project. The people in Gill’s photographs wear masks, of their own design, as they engage in everyday village activities. Gill navigates the ethics of representation by inviting her subjects to participate in the creation of their own photographic likeness. The masks they don both allow them creative expression of a contemporary language of symbols, while obscuring their individual identities from exploitation.