Gauri Gill b. 1970

Biography

Born in 1970 in Chandigarh, India, Gauri Gill is an immersive photographer whose practice is driven by diverse and collaborative inquiries into rural, indigenous, marginalized and diasporic Indian communities.

She has exhibited her work widely within India and around the world. In 2022, her first major survey exhibition opened at the Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt and travelled to the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk in January 2023. Gill’s work has been shown at The Photographers’ Gallery, London (2024); Ishara Art Foundation, Dubai (2024); Victoria and Albert Museum, London (2023); BAMPFA, Berkeley (2020); the 58th Venice Biennale (2019); Chobimela, Dhaka (2019); MoMA PS1, New York (2018); Documenta 14, Athens and Kassel (2017); 7th Moscow Biennale (2017); Prospect 4, New Orleans (2017); Centre Pompidou, Paris (2017); Kochi-Muziris Biennale (2016); The Wiener Library, London (2014); and Whitechapel Gallery, London (2010), among other places. She has also consistently exhibited at locations outside of the art world, including public libraries, rural schools and non-profit institutions.

In 2025, Gill’s work will be exhibited at the Tate Modern, London, UK, as well as the Kunstmuseum Moritzburg Halle, Saale, Germany.

Her work is in the collections of prominent institutions worldwide, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Tate Museum, London; Smithsonian Institution, Washington and Fotomuseum, Winterthur.

Gill received the prestigious Prix Pictet Photography and Sustainability Award in 2023. In 2022, Gill was the Inaugural Roberta Denning Visiting Artist at Stanford University, California; in 2018, she was a recipient of an India Today Art Award, New Delhi; in 2013, she was Creative Arts Fellow at the Rockefeller Foundation in Bellagio; in 2011, she was awarded the Grange Prize, Canada’s foremost award for photography; and in 2002, she received the Fifty Crows Award (formerly called the Mother Jones) in San Francisco.

Gill has recently published two books with Edition Patrick Frey about her collaborations with rural artists, titled Acts of Appearance (2022) and Fields of Sight (2023).

The artist lives and works in New Delhi, India.

Works

Untitled, (27) from the series 'Acts of Appearance', 2015 - ongoing
Untitled, (81) from the series 'Acts of Appearance', 2015 - ongoing
Untitled (4), from the series Acts of Appearance, 2015 - ongoing
Untitled, (77) from the series Acts of Appearance, 2015 - ongoing
Untitled, (9) from the series 'Acts of Appearance', 2015 - ongoing
Untitled (15), from the series Acts of Appearance, 2015 - ongoing
Untitled, (33) from the series 'Acts of Appearance', 2015 - ongoing
Untitled, (58) from the series Acts of Appearance, 2015 - ongoing
Gauri Gill and Rajesh Vangad, 'Gods of the Home and Village', 2015, from the series 'Fields of Sight', 2013 - ongoing
Gauri Gill and Rajesh Vangad, 'Building the City', 2016, from the series 'Fields of Sight', 2013 - ongoing
Gauri Gill and Rajesh Vangad, 'Moonlight in the Forest', 2014, from the series 'Fields of Sight', 2013 - ongoing
Gauri Gill and Rajesh Vangad, 'The Sweet and Salty Sea', 2015, from the series 'Fields of Sight', 2013 - ongoing
Gauri Gill and Rajesh Vangad, 'Paths through Air', 2015, from the series 'Fields of Sight', 2013 - ongoing
Gauri Gill and Rajesh Vangad, 'Jameen' part of the triptych 'Jal, Jungal, Jameen', 2021, from the series 'Fields of Sight', 2013 - ongoing
Gauri Gill and Rajesh Vangad, 'The Drought, the Flood', 2016, from the series 'Fields of Sight', 2013 - ongoing
Gauri Gill and Rajesh Vangad, 'Moving Mind', 2024, from the series 'Fields of Sight', 2013‐ongoing
Untitled, (53) from the series ‘The Mark on the Wall', 1999 - ongoing
Untitled, (7) from the series ‘The Mark on the Wall’, 1999-ongoing
Untitled, (27) from the series ‘The Mark on the Wall', 1999 - ongoing
Untitled, (26) from the series ‘The Mark on the Wall’, 1999-ongoing
Untitled, (39) from the series ‘The Mark on the Wall', 1999 - ongoing
Untitled, (21) from the series 'The Mark on the Wall', 1999 - ongoing
‘Jannat, Barmer’, from the series ‘Notes from the Desert’, 1999 - ongoing
'Waterwells', from the series ‘Notes from the Desert’, 1999–ongoing
‘Mir Hasan with his grandfather Haji Saraj ud Din, oldest member of the community, in his last days, Barmer’, from the series ‘Notes from the Desert' , 1999 - ongoing
‘New homes after the flood, Lunkaransar’, from the series ‘Notes from the Desert’, 1999 - ongoing
'Karima and Nimli, in a home destroyed by flooding due to extra rain, Lunkaransar’ from the series 'Notes from the Desert', 1999 - ongoing
‘Hanuman Nath with his daughter and Hem Nath, on Holi day, Lunkaransar’, from the series ‘Notes from the Desert’, 1999 - ongoing
'Suman & Kalavati', 2010 from the series 'Balika Mela', 2003/2010
'Sunita, Sita & Nirmala', 2003 from the series 'Balika Mela', 2003/2010
'Revanti', 2003, from the series 'Balika Mela', 2003/2010
'Goga', 2003 from the series 'Balika Mela', 2003/2010
'Indira and Kumari', 2003 from the series 'Balika Mela', 2003/2010
'Manju and Parvati', 2010 from the series 'Balika Mela', 2003/2010
'Indian grocery store in Queens. New York 2004' from the series 'The Americans', 2000-2007
'Kundan Singh in his son's home. Yuba City, California 2001', from the series 'The Americans', 2000-2007
'Party for Indian Entrepreneurs. Washington, DC 2002', from the series 'The Americans', 2000-2007
'Software engineer, Alok Pareek; business owner, Sumati Patel-Pareek. Silicon Valley, California 2001', from the series 'The Americans', 2000-2007
'Yuba City, California 2001', from the series 'The Americans', 2000-2007
‘Stanford University Bhangra Competition. De Anza College, California 2002/Performers Kwane Wilkinson and Shane 'Shake' Dhillon from the California Soul Hip Hop Dance Academy based in Modesto. California 2002’ from the series ‘The Americans’, 2000-2007
'Mumbai 2007 (c)’, from the series ‘Rememory’, 2003-ongoing
'Mumbai 2012 (g)', from the series 'Rememory', 2003-ongoing
'Gurgaon 2004 (a)', from the series 'Rememory', 2003-ongoing
'Bawana, New Delhi 2007 (a)', from the series 'Rememory', 2003-ongoing
'Bikaner 2004 (d)', from the series 'Rememory', 2003-ongoing
'Bikaner 2004 (c)', from the series 'Rememory', 2003-ongoing
'Bikaner 2004 (b)', from the series 'Rememory', 2003-ongoing
'Nokha 2004 (b)’, from the series ‘Rememory’, 2003-ongoing