Acts of Appearance

2015 - Photography (Photography)

60.96 x 40.64 cm each

Gauri Gill


Acts of Appearance is an ongoing series by Gauri Gill consisting of lush, large-scale color portraits of the residents of a village in Maharashtra, in Western India, which is known for making Adivasi masks. Adivasi people are part of the tribal groups population of South Asia. Instead of requesting the likenesses of gods and demons, Gill asked the residents—including the master mask-makers Subhas and Bhagavan Dharam Kadu, their families, and fellow volunteers—to make masks that portray their own lives. Instead of consecrating gods or demons as per local tradition and lore, the masks become self-portraits and exercises in the symbolic representation of lived reality, across dreaming and waking states. Then, she painstakingly orchestrated medium-format portraits of the makers wearing their masks in everyday settings, such as in Untitled, (16) and ( 32) . Without uttering a word, the resulting images unfurl narratives that become vast commentaries on time, leisure, work, pleasure, hopes, dreams, fears, and futures. Gill’s photographs occupy the same threshold between human and spirit as the Boas photographs enacting the dance of Hamatsa (a Pacific Northwest Coast Indigenous community), and depict the frozen moment of an elaborate performance to be a powerful—and politically consequential—thing indeed.


Gauri Gill is interested in the social contract of photography. Her photographs propagate expression to subaltern existences within rural Indian states, even as they critically denote a fundamental imbalance in their own existence, at once accredited to Gill as well as the cultural, social, and political statements of the collaborators that she photographs. Her practice operates on a surface level that opens up onto an ephemeral, vital set of relationships, both through and beyond her social engagement with the communities, individuals, and practices that drive her photography to hold much more than what it directly portrays. In doing so, her works inquire about the circulation of expression from the margins of contemporary life, Gill’s work forming an estuary of repressed voices that leaks outward into the discourse of the greater art world. The Western structure of the singular artist as genius disintegrates against these somewhat anonymized, though strident sources. The sense that there is an expanded, unwieldy network of individuals at play throughout her works is present in their sometimes overflowing serial quality: almost all of her series are ongoing, and overlap each other.


Colors:



Related works sharing similar palette

Five-Hundred Twenty-Four
© » KADIST

Lenka Clayton and Phillip Andrew Lewis

2022

Five Hundred Twenty-Four, a single-channel video installation by Lenka Clayton and Phillip Andrew Lewis, features singers from over twenty Cleveland-area choirs counting numbers in an iterative process: one person sings “one”, then two people sing “two”, and so forth, to 524...

Royal Velázquez Portrait Expected to Shatter Auction Records
© » OBSERVER

Royal Velázquez Portrait Expected to Shatter Auction Records | Observer A portrait of a Spanish queen painted by Diego Velázquez, the 17th-century artist celebrated for his depictions of Spain’s royal family, is expected to shatter his auction record when it goes up for sale early next year...

Podcast 65: M1 CONTACT Contemporary Dance Festival (Part 1)
© » ARTS EQUATOR

Podcast 65: M1 CONTACT Contemporary Dance Festival (Part 1) | ArtsEquator Thinking and Talking about Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia Articles Photo: Crispian Chan September 12, 2019 Duration: 20 min Podcast host Chan Sze-Wei and guest Melissa Quek discuss works they saw at the recent M1 CONTACT Contemporary Dance Festival, specifically at the platforms DiverCity, Off Stage and M1 Open Stage...

Liu Chuang “Lithium Lake and Island of Polyphony” Antenna Space / Shanghai
© » FLASH ART

Liu Chuang "Lithium Lake and Island of Polyphony" Antenna Space / Shanghai | | Flash Art Flash Art uses cookies strictly necessary for the proper functioning of the website, for its legitimate interest to enhance your online experience and to enable or facilitate communication by electronic means...

CAMARADERIE
© » KADIST

Mahmoud Khaled

2009

CAMARADERIE is a precursor to and a blueprint for Mahmoud Khaled’s later forays into queer aesthetics and modes of visual representation...

Italy donates replica of Bull of Nimrud destroyed by Isis to Iraq
© » THEARTNEWSPER

Italy donates replica of Bull of Nimrud destroyed by Isis to Iraq Art market Museums & heritage Exhibitions Books Podcasts Columns Technology Adventures with Van Gogh Search Search Heritage news Italy donates replica of Bull of Nimrud destroyed by Isis to Iraq The 3D-printed reproduction of the Assyrian statue was previously displayed at the Colosseum in Rome and the Unesco headquarters in Paris James Imam 9 February 2024 Share The replica of the Bull of Nimrud at the Colosseum © Museo Archaeologico del Colosseo Italy has donated a reconstructed Assyrian statue to Iraq in what has been described as a “miracle of Italian cultural diplomacy”...

How Gregory Halpern Found His Voice in Buffalo
© » APERTURE

Gregory Halpern

The photographer speaks with his brother, the journalist Jake Halpern, about growing up in a city of surreal sights and memorable characters....

American Artist: Shaper of God at REDCAT
© » KADIST

American Artist: Shaper of God at REDCAT Featuring newly commissioned work in video, installation, sculpture, and drawing, Shaper of God takes inspiration from science fiction author Octavia E...

Nancy Buirski, Award-Winning Documentary Filmmaker, Dies at 78
© » NYTIMES LENS

Nancy Buirski, Award-Winning Documentary Filmmaker, Dies at 78 - The New York Times Movies | Nancy Buirski, Award-Winning Documentary Filmmaker, Dies at 78 https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/01/movies/nancy-buirski-dead.html Share full article Advertisement SKIP ADVERTISEMENT Nancy Buirski, an Emmy and Peabody Award-winning documentary filmmaker whose eye was honed as a still photographer and picture editor, died on Wednesday at her home in Manhattan...

10 Stunning Prehistoric Sculptures from The Met's Collection
© » ART & OBJECT

10 Stunning Prehistoric Sculptures from The Met's Collection | Art & Object Skip to main content Subscribe to our free e-letter! Webform Your Email Address Role Art Collector/Enthusiast Artist Art World Professional Academic Country USA Afghanistan Albania Algeria American Samoa Andorra Angola Anguilla Antarctica Antigua & Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Ascension Island Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia & Herzegovina Botswana Bouvet Island Brazil British Indian Ocean Territory British Virgin Islands Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Canary Islands Cape Verde Caribbean Netherlands Cayman Islands Central African Republic Ceuta & Melilla Chad Chile China Christmas Island Clipperton Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia Comoros Congo - Brazzaville Congo - Kinshasa Cook Islands Costa Rica Croatia Cuba Curaçao Cyprus Czechia Côte d’Ivoire Denmark Diego Garcia Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Eswatini Ethiopia Falkland Islands Faroe Islands Fiji Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guam Guatemala Guernsey Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Heard & McDonald Islands Honduras Hong Kong SAR China Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Isle of Man Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jersey Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kosovo Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macao SAR China Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Mexico Micronesia Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Myanmar (Burma) Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands Netherlands Antilles New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Niue Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands North Korea North Macedonia Norway Oman Outlying Oceania Pakistan Palau Palestinian Territories Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Pitcairn Islands Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Romania Russia Rwanda Réunion Samoa San Marino Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Sint Maarten Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Georgia & South Sandwich Islands South Korea South Sudan Spain Sri Lanka St...

Matt Lipps Part 2
© » KADIST

Matt Lipps, Populist Camera at Silverman Gallery Sf...

Pay and Display
© » KADIST

Oliver Beer

2011

Pay and Display is a film of a performance, for which there was no audience, staged in the multistory Pershore Street car park in Birmingham, a brutalist building, arguably one of the most inhospitable environments for a musical performance...

A Bruxelles, les foires d’art prolifèrent avec la Brafa et Ceramic
© » LE MONDE

A Bruxelles, les foires d’art prolifèrent avec la Brafa et Ceramic Cet article vous est offert Pour lire gratuitement cet article réservé aux abonnés, connectez-vous Se connecter Vous n'êtes pas inscrit sur Le Monde ? Inscrivez-vous gratuitement Article réservé aux abonnés Des œuvres de Kevin McNamee-Tweed et Anne Marie Laureys, de la galerie Tatjana Pieters, à la foire Ceramic, à Bruxelles, en janvier 2024...

Abigail Lane — Doing Time
© » SLASH PARIS

Abigail Lane — Doing Time — Galerie Semiose — Exposition — Slash Paris Connexion Newsletter Twitter Facebook Abigail Lane — Doing Time — Galerie Semiose — Exposition — Slash Paris Français English Accueil Événements Artistes Lieux Magazine Vidéos Retour Précédent Suivant Abigail Lane — Doing Time Exposition Installations Abigail Lane, Black bird, Doing Time Abigail Lane Doing Time Encore 27 jours : 13 janvier → 9 mars 2024 La série exposée dans la project room chez Semiose, Doing Time, consiste en des broderies d’oiseaux insérées dans des boîtes fermées par des barreaux...

Marwa Arsanios
© » KADIST

Marwa Arsanios, in conversation with Heidi Rabben...

Untitled (Wheelchair drawing)
© » KADIST

Edgar Arceneaux

2006

Untitled (Wheelchair Drawing) is a ten-foot photo transfer of the image of a wheelchair with burning embers in its seat...

The Ballad of Special Ops Cody
© » KADIST

Michael Rakowitz

2017

The Ballad of Special Ops Cody by Michael Rakowitz is a serio-comic stop motion animated film in which an everyday African-American G...

Weekly Picks: Indonesia (12 – 18 November 2018)
© » ARTS EQUATOR

Weekly Picks: Indonesia (12 - 18 November 2018) | ArtsEquator Thinking and Talking about Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia Weekly To Do November 12, 2018 Top Picks of Indonesia art events in Bali, Bandung and Jakarta from 12 – 18 November 2018 If you’re in Bali, swing by the exhibition “Efek Samping” part of the Futuwonder Project : Masa Subur ...

Interview with Xaviera Simmons
© » KADIST

New York-based artist Xaviera Simmons and AFRO Charities executive director Savannah Wood introduce Nectar , on view at KADIST Paris from May 6th to July 24th 2022...

Ong Keng Sen: Pushing the conversation
© » ARTS EQUATOR

Ong Keng Sen: Pushing the conversation | ArtsEquator Thinking and Talking about Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia Articles Patricia Bateira May 6, 2020 Theatre stalwart Ong Keng Sen returns to helm Singapore theatre company TheatreWorks, after being away for a decade to complete his PhD in Performance Studies at Tisch School of the Arts in New York...