Dayanita Singh

On the walls are a new series of constructed ‘contact sheets’ which demonstrate the artist’s singular relationship with architecture. Constructed from rows of framed photographs, each work allows for the arrangement and rearrangement of individual images. This near-limitless possibility for new compositions and constructed histories reveals Singh’s ability to observe and capture what lies beyond the simple geometrical formation of a space. Years of practice have honed her ability to identify the archetypal essence of a space, independent of scale, time or style.

For some of the titles of these works Singh draws upon literary references. Light did not Know comes from the architect Louis Khan in the book Licht und Raum – light and space in which he poetically expresses the significance of sunlight falling upon a wall.

Between Rose and Chrysanthemum is part of the artist’s enduring and ongoing interest in analogue archives – ranging from the personal to the bureaucratic. The new teak panels in the exhibition reference the analogue photographic contact sheets from the artist’s own vast archive, a form she continues to work with even when shooting digitally. In this work Singh captures the endless piles of documents held by various Italian state archives.

The title is a quote taken from the novel All The Names by Portuguese author José Saramago in which the distinct smell of aging papers within an archive is described as “somewhere between Rose and Chrysanthemum”.

Architects’ Gathering brings together the greatest number of architectural references in the show, creating what Singh has called her ‘own architectural history’. Where an analogue contact sheet would typically hold multiple images taken in just one specific place or time, with her constructed contact sheets she has the freedom to unite 12 different locations, documenting her own architectural ‘pilgrimage’. At the centre of this work is an image of a 2nd Century interior in Pompeii surrounded by contemporary buildings of Eduardo Souto de Moura in Braga; Rahul Mehrotra in Ahmedabad; Ludwig Mies van der Rohe; and the Japanese architect Kazuo Shinohara, among others.