Styles Genres Museums Artists Support

An open visual arts database with 625,000+ artworks, 56,000+ artists, and 850+ styles spanning centuries of human creativity.

Browse

Styles
Genres
Museums
Artists
Favorites

Popular Styles

Impressionism
Romanticism
Surrealism
Pop Art
Cubism
Realism

Museums

Art Institute of Chicago
MoMA
Rijksmuseum
Cleveland Museum of Art
The MET
Louvre

VisualArtsDB is free and open for everyone.

Support the project

© 2026 VisualArtsDB

File Room [3] by Dayanita Singh — VisualArtsDB

File Room [3]

File Room [3]

2011

Medium: Inkjet print
Dimensions: 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.)
Genre: Photograph
Museum: Art Institute of Chicago

Tags

photographyfilesshelvesphotographabstract objects

About

In India, archivists design their own structures, whether it be metal or wood, and most of the time also design their own catalogue systems. I find the thought of the secrets and knowledge contained in all that paper deeply moving.—Dayanita Singh, 2013

More by Dayanita Singh

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

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

Dayanita Singh, 1994

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"

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"

Dayanita Singh, 1996

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

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

Dayanita Singh, 2007

File Room [5]

File Room [5]

Dayanita Singh, 2011

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

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

Dayanita Singh, 1991

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

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

Dayanita Singh, 1999

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"

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"

Dayanita Singh, 1999

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"

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"

Dayanita Singh, 1998

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

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

Dayanita Singh, 1992

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

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

Dayanita Singh, 1993

File Room [4]

File Room [4]

Dayanita Singh, 2011

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

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

Dayanita Singh, 1999