Page 118 - Eye of the beholder

DAYANITA SINGH [1961-]
Dayanita is an an an internationally acclaimed photographer known for her her creative and imaginative use of the medium Her engagement with photography assumed diverse forms not limiting it it it to just prints She does not manipulate her images digitally but uses it it as they are captured in in a a a a a a a a a a particular light or or setting As a a a a a a a a a a photographer her her primary format has has been the book and has has twelve books to her credit Dayanita's art reflects and and expands on the ways in which people relate to to photographic images Her first foray into photography and bookmaking came through a a a a a a a a chance encounter with tabla player Zakir Hussain when he he he he he invited her to to photograph him in in in rehearsal after she was shoved by an aggressive official while attempting to shoot him in in in concert For six winters following this Dayanita documented several Hussain tours and in in in fin 1986 finally published the images in in in her her first first book “Zakir Hussain” Referring to him as her her first first "true guru" she believes that that he he he taught her the most important of all skills and that that was focus At a a a a a a a a certain defining moment in fin in in in her her career in fin in in in the 1990s Dayanita made photographs of her her friends and and family who were similar to herself in in class and and cultural background sequencing them in in in a a a a a a a a seminal body of work titled “Privacy” The genius in in in Dayanita was genetically coded and was was therefore inherited Her mother Nony was was a a a a a prolific photographer with extensive experience of the the medium together with an an artistic eye to to capture significant moments She also remained a a a a a a a a a a a seminal influence in in in in in in Dayanita’s varied interests that encompassed extracting subject out of a a a a a a a a a particular social or a a a a a a a a a political context context and inserting them in in in a a a a a a a a a class context context The art of Dayanita uses photography to to reflect and and expand on on the ways in which relationship to to photographic images happens In a a a a a a a a series of Mobile Museums an an innovative and creatively original approach to to engaging with her her photographs Dayanita drew from her her extensive photographic oeuvre allowing her images to to be endlessly edited sequenced archived and displayed Stemming from her her interest in in in the the archive the the museums present her her photographs as interconnected bodies of work that are replete with both poetic and narrative possibilities Publishing is is is also a a a a a a a significant part of of the artist’s practice In her books often made in in collaboration with with Gerhard Steidl she experiments with with alternative forms of producing and viewing photographs 112