Let’s take a look at Dayanita Singh’s 2022 photobook launch

Visual artist, bookmaker and recipient of the 2022 Hasselblad Award Dayanita Singh often talks about how photography is burdened by its reality. There seems to be a perennial need to make imagery relevant, when photographs themselves hold a narrative. The passionate curator views her photographs as raw material to mold and melt, which is evident in many of her photobooks such as Himself Mona Ahmed (2001), Go Away Closer (2007)seven segments that make up sent a letter (2008)And Museum Building (2017) – An experiment in transforming space.

In his recent photobook – that’s the word for a photo novel -, let’s watch, Dayanita’s imagery is filled with memories spread across 149 photographs. Published by his longtime publisher, Steidl, the novel was a result of the COVID-19 lockdown, which prompted him to put down his carefully archived contact sheet to reveal anecdotes from a past that still continues within the frame . Ahead of the release of her book on 17 September at The Raw Mango Store, New Delhi, Dayanita discusses the interactive elements that lie buried within her imagination, and how to carefully coax moments from the 1980s and 90s Delve into his process of editing the 40-year collection. ,

page turner

let’s watch There’s an inherent quality of a flipbook, where the audience doesn’t need to turn every page for the stories to reveal themselves. It’s rather intentional and considered, as Dayanita’s recent Instagram story reads “Photography is a way of being heard. let’s watch completely built into conversation within hearing distance.” In an interview on Zoom, she explains that what she really wanted from this book was the ability to turn the pages on both sides with complete ease. ; In fact if she had her way she would have made it with a circular binding.

“I mentioned Stadel that I wanted the book to feel like a cheap paperback novel you’d buy at the train station, or airport – read it along the way and maybe even leave it behind. You will also see that the end and cover are connected. This is my clue to say that the story goes on,” Dayanita clarifies. Within her photographs in the novel are people with an ease, almost as if someone has stepped into a room with their loved ones in attendance. Steeped in theatrical pose, her muscles seem unaffected by the presence of the camera.

a fraction from let’s watch
, photo credit: Dayanita Singh

make sense of editing

“When I made these pictures, people had absolutely no sensibility to be photographed and I didn’t consider myself a photographer. The photos happened only during a long-running conversation; They were my way of listening,” she elaborates. Editing a book with photographs that span a wide collection may not be easy, but there are certain patterns that visual artists choose to illustrate their work.

Dayanita mentions that being an editor is about being ruthless, but her advantage here was that three decades had passed, giving her the opportunity to barely recognize her imagination. “Editing could have gone in many different directions. But when I saw the picture of the two boys through a magnifying glass in the mirror, I began to notice that there was something about how people were looking. what were they seeing? that very taut feeling let’s watch became the principle of the editing process; A book that has been edited taking into account the remnants of the previous page, ”says the artist. The sequencing itself was the real challenge, and the bookmaker used five different maquettes until the form emerged. “It was around this time that this idea of ​​the novel ‘Stream of Consciousness’ came about,” she adds.

a fraction from let’s watch
, photo credit: Dayanita Singh

catch the words

Dayanita pursued photography during her tenure at the National Institute of Design, where she initially enrolled to study Graphic Design. His first photobook, on Hindustani classical Ustad Zakir Hussain (1986), was made as his final year student project. Since her initial encounter with photography, she sees the camera as a tool that allows her to be a part of anything she is fascinated by. For him, the effort is about engaging the reader with the work beyond it. photoness with let’s watch She vehemently questions, “Can images work in place of text, and what kind of meaning would that make because pictures can go where there are no words?” It seems that the time has come for a new language.

let’s watch , 2,000) available at steidl.de and Artisan Art Gallery, Mumbai.