Trance, Dance (Enchanting Bali)

The Journey of Gill Marais and Ilona Zboray through the Secrets of Bali exhibition brings together these two women travellers, embracing a period of almost hundred years. Two women closely bound by the continuity of the themes they immortalised. Ilona Zboray and Gill Marais travelled to Bali and conveyed their experiences under entirely different circumstances, but what they have in common is the fact they were largely documenting exactly the same themes. Ilona Zboray through her writing, and Gill Marais through her photographs. Perhaps this makes the relationship between their accounts so fascinating: Both these women were primarily interested in representing the world of women. This was not necessarily the result of a deliberate decision. However unintentional their choice, they nevertheless captured and photographed what they observed with a similar sensitivity. In the exhibition Trance / Dance / Bali, visitors are confronted with a different aspect of Bali, this earthly Eden popularly known as a tourist paradise ― they are brought face to face with everyday life and mortality, ceremonies, the powers of evil, and the struggle against demons. The descriptions penned by Ilona Zboray and the photographs taken by Gill Marais draw us into the unique culture and unparalleled beauty of Bali through the medium of images and words. In the present publication, Gill Marais’s photographs are accompanied by the captions that she herself wrote for them. The publication also reproduces three articles written by Ilona Zboray, along with the original photographs.