Outdoor
Redefining tradition through creation and photography, Acts of Appearance is a collaborative project initiated and directed by Gauri Gill. In Maharashtra, Gill meets artists from a village renowned for its mask-making. These papier-mâché faces are created for the Bohada festival of the Adivasi communities, or Indigenous peoples, who enact mythological tales for the yearly event. Intrigued by the disparity between this fantastical universe and the precarious lives of the population, the artist commissioned the creation of new pieces from the famous mask-makers Subhas and Bhagvan Dharma Kadu, their relatives and volunteers beginning in the year 2015. These masks show human beings, animals or universal experiences. Gill photographs villagers improvising scenarios from their daily lives, to create fictional stories rooted in contemporary Indian reality.
Exhibition layout and design by Images Vevey and the artist
