Vehicles for change: Gauri Gill on capturing the Indian farmers’ protests

When, in November 2020, thousands of farmers from Punjab and Haryana parked their vehicles (and grievances) outside New Delhi, photographer Gauri Gill went to join them. The workers were fighting the introduction of three farm acts – nicknamed the ‘black laws’ – which would dramatically reduce agricultural protections, potentially decimating the industry and lives of millions of farmers across the country. The march became what The Guardian called “probably the largest peaceful protests in the world,” and, ultimately, were successful (prime minister Narendra Modi announced the laws’ repeal on 19 November 2021). The mass gatherings had their own distinct visual character, captured by Gill in A Village on the Highway. Tarpaulins drape over makeshift huts and trucks converted into shelters, while behind the sheets, thin mattresses and simple tin crockery speak to months spent on the roadside – life relocated by necessity.

8 June 2023