Planetarische Bauern

Despite living in the metropolis of Delhi, photographer Gauri Gill (born 1970 in Chandigarh, India) maintains close ties to rural life. In her work, which is both artistic and documentary in nature, she regularly revisits marginalized groups, including Indigenous peoples, migrants, nomads and small farmers. Warli artist Rajesh Vangad (born 1975 in Ganjad, India) grew up in the countryside of western India. He is one of the foremost practitioners of the traditional painting technique of the Warli tribe.
Gill and Vangad have been collaborating closely since 2013 to co-create painted photographs that marry different knowledge systems. The intricate overpaintings expand the present tense of the photograph to include vivid autobiographies and intangible mythologies, as well as transformations wrought by industrial civilization. In the triptych from the series Fields of Sight produced for Planetary Peasants, images from Ganjad merge with impressions gathered last year during Vangad’s sojourn in Halle and the surrounding area, creating a seemingly surreal glocal landscape.