Sunday, July 25, 2010

A compilation of artist Dayanita Singh’s work

A retrospective compilation of renowned photo-artist Dayanita Singh’s work forms part of a significant publication that covers two decades of her career since 1989.

The celebrated artist has received many awards like the Prince Claus Award by the Netherlands government in 2008 for ‘her image of outstanding quality, providing a well-articulated view of contemporary India, and for introducing a new aesthetic into Indian photography’. The celebrated photographer quipped in an interview (DNA India, Kritika Kapoor):
“I think I've been intrigued more by the structure, sequencing and interiority of certain literature and have attempted to see if it might be possible to explore these in the photographic book. My book 'Go Away Closer' marks this shift to the inner worlds and leads up to 'Dream Villa'.”
Chronicling more than 100 published and unpublished images, from her solo exhibition, entitled ‘Myself Mona Ahmed’ to some of her most recent works presented in ‘Dream Villa’, the book also includes essays on her works penned by Aveek Sen, recipient of the ICP Infinity Award for photography writing in 2009 and Sunil Khilnani, who has authored the widely popular publication, ‘The Idea of India’.

Dayanita Singh is considered one of India’s most accomplished and skilled photographers. She is among the most respected of her generation who has in turn, managed to inspire a whole new generation of photo-artists, to explore the medium. She shares her sources of inspiration, stating,
“Many writers have influenced my work greatly - Italo Calvino, Michael Ondaatje, Sunil Khilnani, Geoff Dyer, Amitav Ghosh and Vikram Seth... Some I could only read, some that I had the privilege of traveling and conversing with. They have influenced the shifts in my work and often my work has been addressed to them (in the book 'Sent a Letter').”
Her work has been extensively exhibited in prestigious galleries and museums all over the world. The book accompanies a traveling retrospective exhibit of her oeuvre.

No comments:

Post a Comment