Dayanita Singh. The Chopra Sisters, New Delhi.
1999. From Privacy. 2003. © Dayanita Singh.

A.S.: In the presentation you made the other day at Galerie Mirchandani + Steinruecke, you referred to the proliferation of resin-coated prints in the market as opposed to selenium-toned silver-gelatin prints. You complained about how some galleries were mounting and selling 'inappropriately' made photographs. If one of the basic premises of photography - that of preserving a moment and capturing a slice-of-life - is being subverted by cheap and inferior technology as much as by myopic market-oriented practices, then, as a photographer, how do you choose to respond to the situation? Is there a way of remedying it?

D.S.: Black and White photographs are what most of us have grown up with. Colour photographs fade or turn magenta over the years. Look at your family albums and you will realize this. All kinds of Black and White photographs are being shown and sold these days. If I do a project with resin-coated prints for ART India, for example, I know that they won't last for more than a few years. And it would be a deliberate choice. I have done this in Goa - in 2000, I did a show in Saligao, called, De Mello Wado. I showed the works at the village community hall. The works were laminated; you could wipe them if they got dirty. It was one of my most satisfying exhibitions. All the people who had opened their lives and homes to me - it was wonderful to get them to participate. You'll find many of the portraits I took during this time hanging on the walls of people's homes in Goa.

Buyers need to be aware of what they are buying. Only then will photographers and gallerists who want to make a fast buck from this new craze for collecting photographs be forced to maintain standards. I feel making archival prints is best suited to my desire to make images that will be of use to historians in the future. I use paper coated with gelatin containing silver salts. The silver here needs to be stabilized. The washing needs to be done with precision. Otherwise, traces of chemicals remain, and the photograph turns yellow and fades quickly. Archival washing is very important - selenium-toning is therefore very crucial for an archival print. Selenium-toning gives the work a certain glow, a certain lustre. Most importantly, it fixes all chemical residues. What people forget is that when they respond to a photograph, they are responding, at the immediate level, to the print-quality. After the printing, it is framing that is very important; the temperature and humidity control during the show have to be managed as well. Photography, I feel, is easily the most fragile art form.

A.S.: When does documentation, according to you, become fine art? This is with reference to categories that are often misused, like 'fine art photography' and 'documentation photography'. I refer here also to this sudden glut of photography projects, both amateur and professional, centred on recording the changing face of the city. Many of these projects, drawing from researches in the social sciences, ride on a fashionable enthusiasm for all things urban. Positions that are politically correct and which assume a moral high ground are conveniently taken so that the compromise on aesthetic quality is overlooked. The reverse, as we know, with all those flowers and nudes in so-called fine art photography, is equally disconcerting.