Exhibition catalogue, Acts of Resistance and Repair , featuring Indian photographer, Gauri Gill (b. 1970) published in conjunction with Louisiana's extensive exhibition of more than 200 works from Gill's most significant series – the first major presentation of the artist's work. Gauri Gill places modern India's overlooked and outsiders in the middle of the picture – and thus in our field of vision.
From her base in New Delhi, Gauri Gill has attracted attention on the international art scene, not least at documenta in 2017 and the Venice Biennale in 2019, with an original body of work that encompasses several photographic genres – from classic documentary photography to staged tableaus, and a long range works, created in collaboration with others.
In recent decades, Gauri Gill has particularly depicted life in marginalized communities in the countryside, outside India's urban centres. The focus is on identity, gender and class hierarchies in Indian society, migration and cultural affiliations, climate change and the imbalance between center and periphery, as well as between capitalism and cultural roots.
Giving visibility to girls and women, particularly from rural areas dominated by patriarchal power structures, is a major driving force in much of Gill's work. The same is the desire to emphasize a diversity of voices and points of view, which is expressed in experimental collaborations and collective works.
The portrait – based on close relationships with the people and places portrayed – forms the central focal point of her extensive body of work, which engages with poetic beauty, empathy, humor and political engagement.
Gauri Gill was born in Chandigarh in 1970. She lives in New Delhi. Gill studied fine arts at the Delhi College of Art in New Delhi and photography at the Parsons School of Design in New York before earning her MFA in art from Stanford University in California.
Dimensions: H. 30 x W: 22 x D: 1.9 cm
Pages: 268
Language: English
Authors: Ester Schlicht, Louise Leyer (ed.)
Publisher: Kehler Verlag, Heidelberg. The catalog is published in connection with the Gill exhibition, respectively in Schirn, Kunsthalle Frankfurt and at Louisiana.