Dyanita Singh was born in New Delhi in 1961; she studied Visual Communication at the National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad and Photography at the International Center of Photography in Boston, USA.

In the 1980s she worked as a photo-journalist, carrying out assignments for newspapers and magazines across the world but she gradually moved away from factual, documentary photography to create a genre consisting of series of images, usually published in book form, which do not aim to ‘capture the moment’ but rather encapsulate the realities inhabited by individuals or sub-groups in Indian society. Notable examples are: Myself Mona Ahmed (2001) and Privacy (2004). More ruminative and reflective works include The House of Love (2011), which comprises nine sets of evocative and lyrical images, accompanied by texts by the writer Aveek Sen, which become virtual short stories. In some works by Singh, the images are presented without any captions or text: Go Away Closer (2007) is a ‘novel without words’, consisting of images which express feelings of personal loss as well as sadness at the passing of traditional values in the face of technological change in India.

The ten books of photographs published by Singh in addition to acclaimed international exhibitions of her work in major galleries in London, New Delhi, Milan, Paris, Stockholm, Zurich, Berlin Boston, Rome, Amsterdam and elsewhere have brought her recognition as one of the foremost artists working in the medium of photography today.

Dayanita Singh's website

Blue Book No.5