Research - Dayanita Singh

Dayanita Singh is an Indian photographer who mainly uses books to display her work. Presenting photographs in books as opposed to in a frame on the wall of gallery that cannot be moved is her way of creating an object that allows people to interact with the work in a different way. It is Singh's dislike for the way "work gets fossilised in a museum" and not being able to go into the gallery space and change with work around that inspired her Go Away Closer exhibition at the Tate where she made a structure in which she could keep changing the images, adding more and taking some away. This movement, mutation and transformation of the display gave another life to her work and allowed people to engage with it in a completely different way. I really like the way Singh describes the book and what it does - "The book is critical because it's a tactile, very private experience. Exhibitions come and go but the book stays forever".

I was most drawn to her concertina books from the Museum Bhavan series - a collection of 10 books including 241 images. The way the images are composed on the page, square photos on rectangular pages which are all very uniform makes it look like a miniature exhibition but placed in suitcases, it really is on the go - a mobile exhibition.

Book Making

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