MoMA PS1 presents the US premiere of photographer Gauri Gill’s most recent body of work, Acts of Appearance, a series of vivid color photographs for which the artist worked closely with members of an Adivasi community in Jawhar district, Maharashtra, India.

Gill’s collaborator-subjects are renowned for their papier-mâché objects, including traditional sacred masks. In these pictures they engage in everyday village activities while wearing new masks, made expressly for this body of work, which depict living beings with the physical characteristics of humans, animals, or valued objects. A range of scenarios and narratives, situated in both “reality” and dreamlike states, come together in the photographs, which simultaneously portray symbolic or playful representations as well as the familiar experiences of community members against the backdrop of their home and culture.

Acts of Appearance is presented in this exhibition alongside a selection of photographs from Notes from the Desert—a multi-series body of work photographed in rural Rajasthan that Gill began in 1999. This pairing draws parallels between works made over several years in different locations across India, and emphasizes Gill’s sustained engagement with rural communities and local artists.

Gauri Gill. Untitled from the series Acts of Appearance. 2015–ongoing. Pigmented inkjet print. Courtesy the artist and Nature Morte, New Delhi, India. © 2018 Gauri Gill