Over the last decade, Gill has developed collaborative partnerships in an effort to blur the line between photographer and subject. In this instance, Gauri Gill and renowned Warli painter, Rajesh...
Over the last decade, Gill has developed collaborative partnerships in an effort to blur the line between photographer and subject. In this instance, Gauri Gill and renowned Warli painter, Rajesh Vangad worked together on "Fields of Sight", a series of photographs taken by Gill and then hand-inscribed in black paint by Vangad to co-create new imagery of life in Ganjad, a small farming village. These fantastical works combine the contemporary language of photography with that of ancient Warli drawing, a genre of folk art which utilizes the geometric vocabulary of circles, triangles, and squares to symbolize different elements in nature, and the world. In "Three Suns", radial forms emanate from three statuesque male figures and Vangad himself is pictured on the far left. Upon closer inspection, each ray consists of miniature geometric figures representing people and animals, partaking in daily life as hand-drawn trains, automobiles, and planes whiz through the landscape. "Fields of Sight" addresses the challenges faced by indigenous communities, whose land rights are under threat as their environment changes and natural resources are either depleted or totally exhausted as modernity vies with rural life.