Dayanita Singh

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DAYANITA SINGH
Dayanita Singh (born 18 March 1961) is an Indian photographer whose primary

format is the book.
Dayanita Singh was born in New Delhi in 1961. From 1980 to 1986 she studied
Visual Communication at the National Institute of Design (NID), Ahemdabad,
and in 1988, she completed a course in Photojournalism and Documentary
Photography at the International Centre of Photography, New York. Having
participated in numerous shows worldwide, Dayanita’s most recent solo
endeavors include ‘Dream Villa’ at Frith Street Gallery, London; ‘Go Away
Closer and Sent a Letter’ at Hermes Pace, Berlin; and ‘Sent a Letter’ at Nature
Morte, Berlin, all in 2008; Galerie Mirchandani + Steinruecke, Mumbai, and
Chemould Prescott Road, Mumbai, in 2007; Nature Morte, New Delhi, in 2006;
and ‘Beds and Chairs’ at Valentina Bonomo Gallery, Rome, also in 2006.
Her most recent group shows include, ‘Indian Highway’ at Serpentine Gallery,
London, in 2008; ‘Wedded Bliss: The Marriage of Art and Ceremony’ at the
Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, in 2008;
‘Philosophy of the Bedroom’ at the Chelsea Art Museum, New York, the Harris
Museum and Art Gallery, Preston, and the Leeds City Art Gallery, in 2007; and
‘Summer Exhibition’ at Frith Street Gallery, London, in 2006.
Singh's art reflects and expands on the ways in which people relate to
photographic images. Her later works, drawn from her extensive photographic
oeuvre, are a series of mobile museums allowing her images to be endlessly
edited, sequenced, archived and displayed. Stemming from her interest in the
archive, the museums present her photographs as interconnected bodies of work
that are full of both poetic and narrative possibilities.
Publishing is also a significant part of Singh's practice. She has created multiple
"book-objects" – works that are concurrently books, art objects, exhibitions, and
catalogues – often with the publisher Steidl. Museum Bhavan has been shown at
the Hayward Gallery, London (2013), the Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt
(2014), the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago (2014) and the Kiran Nadar
Museum of Art, New Delhi (2016).
Born: 18 March 1961 (age 61)

New Delhi
Nationality: Indian
Alma mater: National Institute of Design
Known for: Artist, photographer
Notable work: Museum Bhavan (2013), Myself Mona Ahmed (2001)
Style : Documentary, Portrait
Awards : Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (2014)
Prince Claus Award (2008)
Hasselblad Award (2022)
Creating curious narratives of everyday life through the photographic medium,

Dayanita Singh gives visual expression to a landscape that juxtaposes the artist’s
imagination with the real world. Her black and white photographs are presented
in an installation titled Museum, as well as in her favourite medium: the book.
Paper holds a particular significance for Singh. The artist portrays everyone,
from the upper class to the fringes of society, giving a wide-angle view of
contemporary India.
Mona Ahmed is a recurrent figure in her work; ever since their first encounter in
1989 on a commission for the London Times – a eunuch living in a cemetery in
Old Delhi, a double outcast rejected by her family and by the eunuch community.
Singh’s portrayal of Mona is an exploration of those with fragmented identities
and a lack of a sense of belonging, which is the subject of the book Myself Mona
Ahmed. Singh’s House of Love blurs the line between photography book and
literary fiction, with images accompanied by poetry and prose that narrate nine
short stories.
The portable ‘museums’, such as the File Museum (2013) or the Museum of
Chance (2014), are large wooden structures that can be arranged in different
configurations, holding between 70 to 140 photographs. This ‘photo-
architecture’, as Singh calls it, allows her to endlessly display, edit and archive
images.
Dayanita Singh is a photographer renowned for her elegant portraits and quiet
interiors. Depicted mostly in black and white are images of urban middle and
upper class families and their environments. These images capture all aspests of
everyday life; from the mudane daily activities of work and rest, to the more
elaborate commemorations of life and death. Moving away from the people
within her frame, Singh, more recently, has begun to focus on the physical space
which surrounds them. Her impeccable shots are an outcome of sincere
observation and utmost patience.
“Dayanita's work is far from straight forward documentary, neither is it a

pictorial catalogue of India's rich and famous. More specifically her family
portraits would locate her in the line of Diane Arbus or even Nan Goldin. I would
argue that such comparisons are simplistic and Dayanita's own development will
render them redundant. Dayanita's particular quality is the enigmatic mix of ease
and tension that she seems to draw out of her subject, even as she fixes them with
a degree of informed objectivity that approximates the documentary style. Yet it
is in the absent self that suggests that she is somehow herself within each
frame…” explains curator and art critic Gayatri Sinha.
To date, Singh has published 14 books on topics covering everything from family
life in India, to the relationship between photography, memory and writing, and
how the transformation from day to night can make certain things seem more
mysterious.
Dayanita Singh is the first woman of Indian descent to be awarded the

prestigious Hasselblad Prize, which has been awarded annually since 1980.
Previous winners include photographic legends, Cindy Sherman, Lee
Friedlander, Josef Koudelka and Ansel Adams.
When interviewed prior to receiving the awards, Singh said, "If I were to get the
Hasselblad Award, what I would really like to do is set up a system where I can
encourage critical writing in photography every year, and in a way, payback what
Robert Frank did for me."
Singh is an inspiring photographer, drawn to both pictures and words and

understands the importance of photobooks for both the author and reader. No
doubt she will motivate other photographers to use more writing in their work
and print more books.

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INDIAN FAMOUS

Dayanita Singh (born 18 March 1961) is an Indian photographer whose primary

Born: 18 March 1961 (age 61)

Creating curious narratives of everyday life through the photographic medium,

“Dayanita's work is far from straight forward documentary, neither is it a

Dayanita Singh is the first woman of Indian descent to be awarded the

Singh is an inspiring photographer, drawn to both pictures and words and

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