Dayanita Singh

Dayanita Singh has reshaped contemporary photography, pushing the medium beyond the wall into more democratic forms: book-objects and “photo-architecture” that can be handled, rearranged, and experienced intimately in everyday life. She treats dissemination as an art practice — ensuring images circulate widely, not just inside museums.

There’s also a personal thread here: we share Mary Ellen Mark as a formative influence. Mark — with whom I worked and later developed a close friendship — encouraged Singh’s early move from New Delhi to New York and her studies at ICP. I’ve always admired how Singh’s work, too, is guided by a sense of openness and care for the communities her images connect.

Singh’s impact lies in both her radical rethinking of form and the bighearted intent behind it. Her work opens doors.