Artworks · Dayanita Singh

Dear Mr. Walter - Mona and Myself (for Parkett no. 95)

2014 · Matted archival pigment print in artist's frame

overall (frame): 18 11/16 × 24 5/8 × 1 3/8" (47.5 × 62.5 × 3.5 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Museum of Chance

2013 · 162 inkjet prints and teak structures

Dimensions variable

Museum of Modern Art

Museum of Photography

2013 · 81 framed inkjet prints and wood

89 3/8 × 51 15/16 × 22 1/16 in. (227 × 132 × 56 cm) Weight of structure without photographs: 286 lb. (129728.749g)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

File Room

2011 · Inkjet prints (5)

Each image, approx: 38 × 38 cm (15 × 15 in.); each frame: 59.7 × 59.9 × 3.8 cm (23 9/16 × 23 5/8 × 1 1/2 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

File Room [1]

2011 · Inkjet print

Image, approx: 38 × 38 cm (15 × 15 in.); frame: 59.7 × 59.9 × 3.8 cm (23 9/16 × 23 5/8 × 1 1/2 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

File Room [5]

2011 · Inkjet print

Image, approx: 38 × 38 cm (15 × 15 in.); 59.7 × 59.9 × 3.8 cm (23 9/16 × 23 5/8 × 1 1/2 in.); frame: 59.7 × 59.9 × 3.8 cm (23 9/16 × 23 5/8 × 1 1/2 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

File Room [3]

2011 · Inkjet print

Image, approx: 38 × 38 cm (15 × 15 in.); Frame: 59.7 × 59.9 × 3.8 cm (23 9/16 × 23 5/8 × 1 1/2 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

File Room [2]

2011 · Inkjet print

Image, approx: 38 × 38 cm (15 × 15 in.); frame: 59.7 × 59.9 × 3.8 cm (23 9/16 × 23 5/8 × 1 1/2 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

File Room [4]

2011 · Inkjet print

Image, approx: 38 × 38 cm (15 × 15 in.); Frame: 59.7 × 59.9 × 3.8 cm (23 9/16 × 23 5/8 × 1 1/2 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Untitled, from the series "Dream Villa" (2010)

2007 · Chromogenic print

Image, approx: 45.6 × 45.6 cm (18 × 18 in.); Frame: 66.3 × 65.3 × 3.8 cm (26 1/8 × 25 3/4 × 1 1/2 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Untitled

2006 · Gelatin silver print, from "Go Away Closer" (2007)

Image, sight: 24.4 × 24.3 cm (9 5/8 × 9 5/8 in.); Frame: 41.9 × 40.5 × 2 cm (16 1/2 × 16 × 13/16 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

I try so hard to please Ayesha, to make jokes. To win her back I even bought a computer, but . . ., from the series "Myself Mona Ahmed"

2000 · Gelatin silver print

30.5 × 45.7 cm (12 × 18 in., image); 40.6 × 50.8 cm (16 × 20 in., paper)

Art Institute of Chicago

Chaman invited us to Faridabad in order to impress Dayanita with his new house, from the series "Myself Mona Ahmed"

2000 · Gelatin silver print

30.5 × 45.7 cm (12 × 18 in., image); 40.6 × 50.8 cm (16 × 20 in., paper)

Art Institute of Chicago

Suddenly, I felt better. Maybe it was the magic of the old woman, or the gods took pity on me, from the series "Myself Mona Ahmed"

2000 · Gelatin silver print

30.5 × 45.7 cm (12 × 18 in., image); 40.6 × 50.8 cm (16 × 20 in., paper)

Art Institute of Chicago

In December 1998 the deppression started and has refused to leave me ever since, from the series "Myself Mona Ahmed"

1999 · Gelatin silver print

30.5 × 45.7 cm (12 × 18 in., image); 40.6 × 50.8 cm (16 × 20 in., paper)

Art Institute of Chicago

I started to dislike humans so much that I started to adore animals and made my family of animals. I had one Doberman, one monkey, four rabbits, two dozen ducks, from the series "Myself Mona Ahmed"

1999 · Gelatin silver print

30.5 × 45.7 cm (12 × 18 in., image); 40.6 × 50.8 cm (16 × 20 in., paper)

Art Institute of Chicago

My beautiful monkey Shabnam (my eunuch brother’s name) that was killed by the Muslims. They said a monkey is a Hindu god and therefore cannot live in a Muslim graveyard. So they poisoned him, from the series "Myself Mona Ahmed"

1999 · Gelatin silver print

30.5 × 45.7 cm (12 × 18 in., image); 40.6 × 50.8 cm (16 × 20 in., paper)

Art Institute of Chicago

Chaman tries to humor Ayesha before taking her away. I fear that she will make Ayesha into a singing girl, and I wanted to make her an educated and respectable woman, from the series "Myself Mona Ahmed"

1999 · Gelatin silver print

30.5 × 45.7 cm (12 × 18 in., image); 40.6 × 50.8 cm (16 × 20 in., paper)

Art Institute of Chicago

My rabbit Moti (Pearl) that the cats ate up a few days later, from the series "Myself Mona Ahmed"

1999 · Gelatin silver print

30.5 × 45.7 cm (12 × 18 in., image); 40.6 × 50.8 cm (16 × 20 in., paper)

Art Institute of Chicago

When I started to live in the graveyard, my own blood family thought I was crazy and admitted me to the mental asylum. I came here because I could not bear the false glamor of city life. I hated the pretense that people put on, from the series "Myself Mona Ahmed"

1998 · Gelatin silver print

30.5 × 45.7 cm (12 × 18 in., image); 40.6 × 50.8 cm (16 × 20 in., paper)

Art Institute of Chicago

When I went to meet Ayesha, Chaman had me tortured by the police. In my pain I ran to Dayanita’s house to make a record of my pain, from the series "Myself Mona Ahmed"

1998 · Gelatin silver print

30.5 × 45.7 cm (12 × 18 in., image); 40.6 × 50.8 cm (16 × 20 in., paper)

Art Institute of Chicago

When Chaman took Ayesha from me, I could not bear the pain, so I would go to the graveyard to tell my pain to the dead people and my only friend Dayanita who liked the old Hindi film songs that I sang for her, from the series "Myself Mona Ahmed"

1998 · Gelatin silver print

30.5 × 45.7 cm (12 × 18 in., image); 40.6 × 50.8 cm (16 × 20 in., paper)

Art Institute of Chicago

I look like a sad Muslim woman after fighting with my guru Chaman. We went on a visit to the graveyard to show Ayesha the ducks, from the series "Myself Mona Ahmed"

1996 · Gelatin silver print

30.5 × 45.7 cm (12 × 18 in., image); 40.6 × 50.8 cm (16 × 20 in., paper)

Art Institute of Chicago

When I went to give blessings, I loved to talk to the women and to hear their joys and sorrows, , from the series "Myself Mona Ahmed"

1994 · Gelatin silver print

30.5 × 45.7 cm (12 × 18 in., image); 40.6 × 50.8 cm (16 × 20 in., paper)

Art Institute of Chicago

To bless the newborn child, I am dancing in front of the house, from the series "Myself Mona Ahmed"

1994 · Gelatin silver print

30.5 × 45.7 cm (12 × 18 in., image); 40.6 × 50.8 cm (16 × 20 in., paper)

Art Institute of Chicago

For Ayesha's third birthday, we hired a live band and dressed Ayesha like an English girl, from the series "Myself Mona Ahmed"

1993 · Gelatin silver print

30.5 × 45.7 cm (12 × 18 in., image); 40.6 × 50.8 cm (16 × 20 in., paper)

Art Institute of Chicago

We lie around like a normal mother and daughter, from the series "Myself Mona Ahmed"

1992 · Gelatin silver print

30.5 × 45.7 cm (12 × 18 in., image); 40.6 × 50.8 cm (16 × 20 in., paper)

Art Institute of Chicago

Taking Ayesha to school, from the series "Myself Mona Ahmed"

1992 · Gelatin silver print

30.5 × 45.7 cm (12 × 18 in., image); 40.6 × 50.8 cm (16 × 20 in., paper)

Art Institute of Chicago

We have the same gestures, even though Ayesha was not born from my stomach, from the series "Myself Mona Ahmed"

1991 · Gelatin silver print

30.5 × 45.7 cm (12 × 18 in., image); 40.6 × 50.8 cm (16 × 20 in., paper)

Art Institute of Chicago

My first year of happiness in my life was with Ayesha, never before had I been so happy, from the series "Myself Mona Ahmed"

1990 · Gelatin silver print

30.5 × 45.7 cm (12 × 18 in., image); 40.6 × 50.8 cm (16 × 20 in., paper)

Art Institute of Chicago

To my left is my Guru Chaman, and to my right is my guru's eunuch brother Dugi, from the series "Myself Mona Ahmed"

1990 · Gelatin silver print

30.5 × 45.7 cm (12 × 18 in., image); 40.6 × 50.8 cm (16 × 20 in., paper)

Art Institute of Chicago

Ayesha fulfilled my dream of becoming a mother, so I celebrated her first birthday for 3 days and 3 nights and invited over 2000 eunuchs from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, from the series "Myself Mona Ahmed"

1990 · Gelatin silver print

30.5 × 45.7 cm (12 × 18 in., image); 40.6 × 50.8 cm (16 × 20 in., paper)

Art Institute of Chicago