Dayanita Singh has said she often thinks she is a photographer because she lacks the vocabulary to become a writer: ?Michael Ondaatje?s poem ?What we Lost?, summed up the archive I have been trying to create for the last twenty years, it was all there in about twenty lines, so I am very envious of writers and I draw a lot from them in the way they touch upon things and what they leave out, and similarly in music, the silence as much as the sound.?
Dayanita Singh?s just released book is a result of her collaboration with Spain?s Fundacion Mapfre, wherein her landmark work was showcased as part of its photography programme. The book is a travelling retrospective across the world.
One of India?s greatest photographers, however, ?felt a true aversion towards what would later become her profession?. Her mother was an avid photographer and the young Dayanita felt, ?being photographed was just another family ritual for me, and I had no interest in becoming a photographer. Photography meant that I had to sit still while my mother counted steps towards me in order to focus her very old Zeiss Ikon camera. Every event had to be recorded in this painful manner, every departure was delayed by her picture making?.
Even when Singh enrolled at the National Institute of Design, she was not particularly interested in photography. An encounter with tabla maestro Zakir Hussain proved to be critical for her. In him she found both a subject for her photographs and a mentor: ?It was then I realised that this was something I wanted to do. At that time, after college, the girls got married. Photography was my ticket to freedom.?
Over the years, Singh has transitioned from photojournalism to a more personal approach to photography. This retrospective volume brings together some of her most important collections including I Am As I Am, Ladies of Calcutta, Dream Villa, Myself Mona Ahmed and Blue Book, among others.
With over 100 photographs, this volume, which includes perceptive commentaries by Sunil Khilnani and Aveek Sen, is a collector?s delight.