About the author
Do you recognize the feeling of photograph totally sucking you into its atmosphere? Well, Dayanita Singh‘s work manages to do that to us. Her photographs often have a meticulous use of light and visual construction, with a touch of poetry. They make you drift into the world that she creates in her mind. The beautiful museum for photography Huis Marseille has organized an exposition around the collected work of Dayanita Singh, and we had the opportunity to interview her while she was visiting Amsterdam.
Photography as a ticket to freedom
We met with Dayanita at Huis Marseille on the Keizersgracht. Seated in comfortable chairs next to the window looking out over a lush garden we had an interesting conversation with this amazing Indian photographer, who had an initial aversion towards photography. This aversion had evolved in her childhood, during which she was constantly photographed by her mother. Something Dayanita experienced as an attack on her privacy and personal integrity.
However, when the 18 year old Dayanita wanted to photograph a famous musician at a live concert for a graphic design school project, this all completely turned around. She was stopped midway by a concert organizer and fell to the floor. Completely humiliated, she shouted: “Today I am a student but one day I will be a famous photographer and then we will see”. The musician in response, invited her to photograph him in a more personal setting while he was practising. This precise moment made Dayanita realize that photography could be her ticket to freedom, to escape the restrictions of class and gender, do whatever pleased her and travel to wherever she wanted.
Ghostly colours show us a poetic world
Something that surprised us in Dayanita’s work is the shift from black and white to colour photography. She explained to us that this didn’t happen on purpose. While standing on top of a building crane to take black and white pictures of the world below, she found out that she only had daylight colour film with her. Using this type of film, she then accidental created a ghostly atmosphere in colour. She had not expected this herself but was positively amazed, so this way of using colour photography became something she frequently uses and really grabs our attention. Our favourite series are Dream Villa and Blue Book, both are shot in colour and show us the poetic way in which Dayanita views her own world.
Huis Marseille has organized an exposition around the life work of Dayanita Singh. The overview exposition will take place from September 4th until November 21st and is located at Keizersgracht 401.
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