Introduction of the artist:

Dayanita SINGH (India)

Born in 1961, New Delhi, India. Lives and Works in New Delhi. Selected solo exhibitions: 2008 Sent a Letter, National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai / 2005 Chairs, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston / 2003 Privacy, Hamburger Bahnhof Museum for Contemporary Art, Berlin / 2001 I am as I am, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, UK / Selected group exhibitions: 2011 54th Venice Biennale / 2011 Paris Delhi Bombay, Centre Pompidou, Paris / 2009 Indian Highway, Serpentine Gallery, London and Astrup Museum, Oslo / 2008 Manifesta 7, Bolzano, Italy / 2008 7th Gwangju Biennale / 2003 Homelessness, Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich.

Introduction of works:

Dayanita Singh emerged as an artist internationally during the late 1990s. Her early work - black and white images arising out of a photo-journalistic interest in marginalised types, especially prostitutes - was thoroughly populated, most notably by middle class Indian families, posing in the natural habitats of their comfortable homes. These were not ironic pictures, but rather detached, like natural history, whilst being sympathetic towards fellow human creatures. A similar gaze was subsequently cast over individuals in distinct scenarios, ranging from girls in a Varanasi ashram to Mona, a melodramatic eunuch who lives out the life of an “untouchable” in the tomb of her dead relatives.

Later photographs became devoid of human subjects, literally as we see empty interiors and landscapes, but always they are haunted by some absent presence, bearing the traces of people departed. Narrative thus becomes less clear and we are left as viewers to imagine the stories that led us to the circumstances we see, captured by the camera, and how they might be resumed. The overall mood, not surprisingly, is one of melancholy and loss. In this vein, House of Love, a recent series by Singh, refers to the Taj Mahal, a beautiful white edifice built by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of a beloved wife. Each image – with, according to the artist, “elusive meanings, some historical, and some personal or idiosyncratic” - is a touching variation on the theme of absence making the heart grow fonder.

Overture - House of Love 10, photograph, 60×60cm, 2010

Being of Darkness - House of Love 132, photograph, 60×60cm, 2010

Being of Darkness - House of Love 144, photograph, 60×60cm, 2010

Being of Darkness - House of Love 146, photograph, 60×60cm, 2010

Dream Villa 20, photograph, 60×60cm, 2010

Go Away Closer 1, photograph, 25×25cm, 2007