First edition of Sea of Files: Hasselblad Award 2022 byDayanita Singh (2022)
First impression
Large format hardback in new condition
Published by Steidl
About
This book celebratesDayanita Singhas the 2022 winner of the Hasselblad Award, considered the most prestigious international photography prize.Sea of Fileshighlights Singhs consistent and unique engagement with the archive, both in a real sense (including the overflowing bundles of Indias public and private archives) and metaphorically: the archive as a vessel of cultural experience. The book includes Singhs associative visual essay Sea of Files in its entirety, as well asfor the first time in a publicationMuseum of Innocence (The Madras Chapter) and other series engaging with the meanings and materiality of archives. A personal essay by Nobel LaureateOrhan Pamukexplores the lyrical, silent reality of Singhs photographs of state archives, for him images of aura and melancholy that evoke the texture of memory, an idea of poetic decrepitude and a sense of profundity, as well as dignified resistance even when the passage of time makes everything meaningless. The book furthermore shows how Singh has paved new ways for engaging with photography, be it through humanist portraiture, or her innovative display structures and book objects which recast traditional notions of the museum and publishing.
