The archive has long been an obsession for Dayanita Singh. Both literal archives, treasuries of objects chosen with care and preserved against time; and the photobook as a moveable archive which the viewer can re-visit and display at will. Forget Me Knot combines two series exploring the intriguing cloth bundles of India’s archives. In “Pothi Khana” (Hindi for “archive room”), Singh presents black-and-white photographs of India’s seemingly endless private and public archives: shelf after shelf of bundles wrapped and knotted in pieces of cloth once colorful but now almost white with age. The documents within these bundles remain as secret and distant to Singh as to us, known only to the archivists who are curiously absent in her images, their presence implied from the spaces they normally inhabit: chairs, desks, doorways, halls. “Time Measures” marks the first time Singh has made portraits of the archive bundles, photographing them individually and close-up against a neutral stone background. Their details are thus revealed: the unique sun-bleached red patterns, the varying shapes and knots (tied and re-tied over the decades by unseen hands), the outlines of the secret contents within. Forget Me Knot invites a process of slow, attentive looking through which the bundles assume the weathered charm of people’s faces and bodies; it is her latest expression of the book as a suggestive, self-determined space, both material and imagined.


112 pages, 97 images

Hardback / Clothbound
24.5 x 32 cm

English

ISBN 978-3-96999-424-5

Not yet published

€ 40.00 incl. VAT
Free shipping

Cookie Settings

We use cookies to improve your experience and to provide you with personalized content. By using this website you agree to our cookie policy

Necessary Cookies
Statistical Cookies
Third-party Cookies
Accept Change Settings
steidl.de

Cookie Settings

More information on how we use cookies in our cookie policy.

­

Necessary Cookies

Without these Cookies services you have asked for cannot be provided.

Statistical Cookies

Allow anonymous usage statistics so that we can improve our offering.

Third-party Cookies

Third-party cookies that are integrated to deliver personalized ads for you.

Cookies We use on This Site