[...] Even when people are absent, [Gauri's] work can still radiate frenetic human activity, as in the sub-series “The Mark on the Wall,” which documents the walls of government schools, covered all over with paintings and writing. At Documenta 14 in Athens, some of these pieces, along with smaller prints of her “Traces” and “Proof of Residence” series, were shown at the Epigraphic Museum, among scores of ancient tombstones and other stone carvings. The display evinced the sense of centuries and centuries of disparate traditions flowing alongside one another—different means of preserving history coexisting, shored up against the power of time.
When photographers train their lenses on others, some form of give and take is always involved, but Gill seems especially attuned to the collaborative potential of that dynamic. She is curious about how other people work, and her art regularly affords a generous space for the creations and activities of those that she meets. [...]
