Dayanita Singh(b. 1961, India) is perhaps best known for her portraits of India’s urban middle and upper class families, these images of people working partying or resting at home, show Indian life without embellishment, she explores another side of India; the place that she belongs to and understands. Her recent work has concentrated on another form of portraiture, that of places rather than people. It includes photographs taken in a diverse range of interior spaces, from the ballroom of an 18th Century palace to the humbler surroundings of a private home, from museums, libraries and seminaries, to the specially constructed wedding ‘stages’ for traditional marriage ceremonies. The work’s subtle formality is the product of intense and intimate observation, communicating a unique sense of time and place.

Dayanita Singh has been making small photo journals of her travels in India for some years now. Each book is made with a certain person in mind, either one she has made the journey with or one that was on her mind during her travels. She makes two copies of each book by hand, one of which remains with her, and the other of which goes to the friend it was made for. A diary with coded images of a time shared. Steidl is pleased to publish seven of these small journals for the first time, along with an eighth journal of her mother, Nony Singh's, photographs of her daughter growing up. The journals are produced in accordion folds so that they can open into mini private exhibitions in her friends' homes, and come housed in a handmade wooden box.