Dayanita singh studio

And with only this “word of mouth”publicity possibility , guess who walked into Archivio - @hragv who had interviewed me for @hyperallergic in 2018 when I was presenting book objects as an attempt at an alternate art world. I am sure neither of us imagined that one day - a friendship network and me , could offer another way of exhibiting in Venice. Thank you dear patrons who offered me your homes and friends over these 25 years . Thank you @andranastasio ( also a patron) for your most thoughtful curation and @chiaraspangaro for holding it all together. And to the friends they brought into this friendship circle. First and foremost my thanks Andrea Erboso for inviting me to show at @archiviodistatodivenezia 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽 and to @iicnewdelhi for supporting transport costs #photographyasfriendship

When I was invited by the director of the Venice archive, Andrea Erboso, to make an exhibition inside the @archiviodistatodivenezia I was determined to go through it all, even if no one visited, I was prepared to fail. Even if I had to sit there every day to open and close the show myself I was prepared to do it. It was the first time the archives was to be opened to the public, away from the biennale locations, we were not sure who would visit besides the archivists who worked there. The brilliant director of @iicnewdelhi Andrea Anastasio very kindly agreed to curate the exhibition and once we started to pour through my 25 year archive of Italy - imagine the shock of finding the very first image I made in 2001 was of him @andranastasio . That was a sign and then @chiaraspangaro offered to help me realise the project, including finding me docents in exchange for my mentorshipto look after the exhibition. @leonardosonnoli agreed to do the graphics for the show and created the amazing font for it. We decided to open with the @incrocidicivilta festival mid April . I did not want to accept any sponsorship for the show because I felt the true patrons were my hosts for 25 years rather than someone who would very generously give me production and logistics money at the final stage . The @iicnewdelhi paid for the shipping but I designed the structures and their packing such that I could install the pillars myself with a little help from tall friends and my own ladder. The aperitifs were offered by @yaliglass and all the patrons came to the opening, as did the archivists. It was an evening of love and friendship, not like an art opening at all. I was not expecting any visitors during the biennale week as we had no posters , no major PR, just word of mouth. And guess what - it worked. In the steady stream of visitors came @jasonfarago and then @invisible.flaneuse who wrote this piece for the @nytimes . Thank you Aruna - for getting to the heart of my intentions with this exhibition- can one make an exhibition without sponsors and marketing teams? Is Photography also a form of friendship . Thank you all who visited and spread the word.

Archivio is open Monday to Friday 11 am - 5 pm. @archiviodistatodivenezia it is curated by @andranastasio @iicnewdelhi and realised by @chiaraspangaro . An experiment in exhibition making , both in form and in its realisation, it seems to have worked. Word of mouth worked better than any PR, mentorship in lieu of docents has been a wonderful exchange, and the friends who form the patrons pillar - none of this would have happened without their hospitality over 25 years. Thank you @vanessapeterson for your insightful words @friezeofficial . #photographyasfriendship

YES it is possible to make an exhibition in Venice, with no sponsors, an archive of 25 years of photography in Italy, an invitation to show in the @archiviodistatodivenezia , the support of @iicnewdelhi and their director and my curator @andranastasio . The key is @chiaraspangaro who held it all together . Word of mouth really works and here is the print version of the story written by @invisible.flaneuse as part of the six shows to see , for @nytimes . The experiement in exhibition making worked. #photographyasfriendship

“Archivio” is open 11 am to 5 pm , Monday to Friday. But just this Saturday 9th May it will be open 12.30-7 pm. There will be a talk with the director Andrea Erboso at 5 pm and walk throughs all day . The exhibition is culled from my archive of Italy of 25 years, curated by @andranastasio , realised by @chiaraspangaro , graphics @leonardosonnoli , supported by @iicnewdelhi and most of all built by loving friends who shared their homes and lives with me . A tribute to friendships - a patrons pillar stands at the heart of the show . What does it mean to be a patron to an artist ? Is one of the questions this experiment in exhibition making asks. Photography as friendship and this exhibition is proof of that @archiviodistatodivenezia

“Archivio” is open Monday to Friday 11 am - 5 pm @archiviodistatodivenezia . Archivio is my 25 year archive of Italy with the last decade focusing on Italian archives. It is curated by @andranastasio , supported by @iicnewdelhi and realised by @chiaraspangaro . This fantastic logo and all the graphics are designed by @leonardosonnoli . An experiment in exhibition making - created by a friendship economy. I look forward to welcoming you.

Archivio @archiviodistatodivenezia Monday - Friday 11 am - 5 pm . Curated by @andranastasio Realised by @chiaraspangaro logo and graphic @leonardosonnoli and a vast network of friendships built over 25 years.

“The Idea of India” - Raghu the beloved father - to his children- to his students- to the generations of photographers he inspired and mentored. Raghu created an “idea of India”- a visual archive over 6 decades- in all those photo essays at @indiatodaymagazine and in his over 20 books. While there won’t be more images to add to his archive ( there must be thousands waiting in his archive to be discovered I am sure) but his archive lives forever in his books. Raghu the archivist, Raghu the book maker. He created his own archive that many now have in their homes, in their libraries . He left us his own version of his work. That to me is a huge achievement - his archive in his books accessible to all who could acquire them. Books made in his own style -large books with equally large images, with his own style of printing, obviously sequenced by him. He created a public archive for generations to come. His very own visual “idea of India”. My deepest condolences to Mita Rai @nitinraiphotography nitinraiphotography Lagan @avani.rai @purvairai and all his students . 📷 Raghu at his farm, photographing his new born @avani.rai who is being shown the viewfinder by #mahendrasinh and Mita is looking on dotingly.

As part of the public program of the solo exhibition ARCHIVIO, at the State Archives of Venice (17 April–31 July 2026), on Tuesday 28 April, 3.30 pm, in the aula magna Silvio Trentin, at Ca’ Dolfin (Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia), the renowned artist-photographer Dayanita Singh will deliver a keynote lecture offering an in-depth reflection on her work. The lecture will feature a conversation between Dayanita Singh, Professors Cristina Baldacci and Stefania Portinari, and curator Andrea Anastasio, followed by a Q&A session with the audience. After the conversation between the artist and the writer Geoff Dyer held during Incroci di Civiltà, this event is a further opportunity for exchange and in-depth discussion. It will highlight the central role of archives not only in relation to memory and history, but also their importance for the future, at a historical moment in which—due to political, ideological, environmental, and technological factors—the modern archival paradigm is undergoing profound reconsideration, bringing its critical issues and fragilities into sharper focus. Organized by Dipartimento di Filosofia e Beni Culturali and Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici, in collaboration with Istituto Italiano di Cultura di New Delhi and Archivio di Stato di Venezia. Thanks to Chiara Spangaro.

On the occasion of 'Archivio', the exhibition by @dayanitasingh at the @archiviodistatodivenezia — exceptionally opened to the public for the first time — CASA YALI was invited to conceive the catering as an extension of the exhibition’s spatial and conceptual language. Developed by the CASA YALI events team, curated by @roberta.angelini_ with the help of @tamara.ballo the menu took cues from the modular structures and aesthetics that shapes both the poetic of the archive and Dayanita's practice. A deep thank you to Dayanita, Chiara and the whole team for making this possible! You're welcome to visit the exhibition until July 31. Photographs by @oliverhaas_photography @roberta.angelini_

Dayanita Singh’s Archivio is now on view in Venice, transforming the Archivio di Stato into a space where photography, memory, and the archive meet. Bringing together Singh’s long engagement with Italian archives and her evolving body of work made in Italy, the exhibition reimagines the archive as something alive, shifting, and open to new readings. All images courtesy of Dayanita Singh 📍 Archivio di Stato, Venice 🗓 April 17 – July 31, 2026 #DayanitaSingh #Archivio #VeniceArt #ContemporaryPhotography ArtExhibition

Dayanita Singh. ARCHIVIO l’Istituto Italiano di Cultura di New Delhi is proud to have inaugurated in Venice at the Archivio di Stato the exhibition Archivio, by Dayanita Singh. For more than twenty-five years, Dayanita Singh has been quietly, patiently, and persistently photographing Italy. This long-duration engagement has unfolded without spectacle, without proclamation, almost as a parallel archive — one that has grown through friendship, trust, and the slow sedimentation of looking. From Venice to Bologna, from Florence to Milan, from Naples to Turin, Como, and Rome, Singh has approached Italian cities not as monuments to be recorded but as living organisms to be listened to. Crucial to this long engagement has been the role of friendship. Access — to private palazzi, hidden libraries, family collections, storerooms, and spaces otherwise inaccessible — has been granted to her not through institutional commission alone, but through relationships cultivated over decades. Friends have opened doors; they have entrusted her with their histories, their interiors, their silences. In doing so, they have become, in a profound sense, her patrons. This patronage is not economic in the classical sense, though it echoes the Italian tradition of artistic support. It is a patronage of care and reciprocity. Singh cares for the spaces and lives she photographs; in return, her friends care for her unfolding practice. The exchange is subtle but foundational. The archive that emerges from her Italian years is therefore not institutional but intimate — built on trust, sustained by mutual attention. What emerges from twenty-five years of photographing Italy is therefore not a survey, nor a documentation, but a relational cartography. It is a map drawn through attention, through patience, through return. Singh’s Italian archive does not claim authority over these cities; it inhabits them lightly. It listens more than it declares. ARCHIVIO is particularly significant for Italian audiences precisely because it enters into a profound and nuanced dialogue with Italy’s own relationship to history, memory, and space. Photo Credits- Gabriele Boghlic