Steidl Two softcovers, poster, sleeve, special frame for the book 1st Edition, 2021 English 96 pages, 94 images
Dayanita Singh’s Zakir Hussain Maquette is a three-part book object: A facsimile of the original maquette built in 1986 as a student at the National Institute of Design; a reader with Singh in conversation with Gerhard Steidl on the art of book building, a text by Shanay Jhaveri; and yet another new format, the ‘poster as book’. Only a few copies of the special edition are available, encased in a black cloth frame / case, exclusively designed for Offset Projects.
The book is well known as Dayanita Singh’s primary medium, one she explores to create new relationships between photography, publishing, the exhibition and the museum. But where did her passion for the book as the ideal vessel for her photos, for the stories she tells, begin? The answer lies in Zakir Hussain, a handmade maquette Singh crafted in 1986, her first project as a graphic design student. The protagonist of Singh’s photo essay is the Indian classical tabla virtuoso Zakir Hussain, whom she captured on the stage and at home with his family. Surrounding the photos are handwritten texts gleaned from interviews Singh made with her sitters.
This Steidl facsimile edition is scanned from Singh’s original maquette and reproduces all its “imperfections” and idiosyncrasies including her pencilled notes about the book’s construction—indications of the influential bookmaker to come. Shanay Jhaveri’s accompanying essay discusses how Singh came to “make” the original, referring to her student notes and exploring how she intuitively assembled the book, from editing the images to design, setting the ground for the book objects and photo architectures of her later practice.
