{"id":7569,"date":"2012-05-21T09:11:18","date_gmt":"2012-05-21T09:11:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/beta.tehelka.com\/?p=7569"},"modified":"2012-05-21T09:11:18","modified_gmt":"2012-05-21T09:11:18","slug":"x-rays-are-a-sane-and-detached-way-to-see-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/x-rays-are-a-sane-and-detached-way-to-see-people\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018X-rays are a sane and detached way to see people\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

WHO<\/span> Singh is a Delhi born and based mixed-media artist. He started his career as an art journalist, with a PG Diploma in Journalism from Asian College of Journalism. He has exhibited at the 2009 Indian Art Summit, the India-Australia show at Art Konsult, New Delhi, and the Aakriti Art Gallery in Kolkata.<\/em>
\n

\"Dhiraj<\/a>
Dhiraj Singh, 39, Artist<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nWhy do you use X-rays as installations?<\/strong>
\nI was a sickly child who made a lot of trips to the hospital. The image of X-rays stayed with me. It lets me explore what lies beyond surfaces. It\u2019s not macabre, but a sane and detached way of seeing people. There\u2019s a lot of beauty there. I can do so much with the texture, and the play of light and darkness. A work of art is not an end product; it has a back-story that extends into the cosmos. With X-rays, I can engage with the story.
\nYour vision for X-rays ?<\/strong>
\nI want to go bigger with my installations. Right now, they are indoors, lit artificially. I want to set them up in natural lighting. I want them to be a public engagement.
\nWhy switch from journalism to art?<\/strong>
\nCovering the art beat, I was exposed to a lot of art and artists. What we call the back of the book can address our journalistic concerns better as it takes an abstract view and includes everything in a layered manner. Gradually I grew disillusioned by normal standards of journalism. I was growing as a person and found news cycles confining. I began to express that through art.
\nHow much of your journalism do you put in art?<\/strong>
\nMy work is more informed by my knowledge. I did this installation in Australia called\u00a0The Black Tide<\/em>. I wanted to combine the imagery of a coastal Australia that celebrates surfing, with its racist past and the genocide of the aboriginals. I\u2019d read so much about the racial violence that I could pick on these themes. My journalistic training betters what I create.
\nWhat do you think about art writing in India?<\/strong>
\nThere are various audiences. One, which is interested in the business. Another, which cares about the aesthetic value. A third, that functions as a social registry following the who\u2019s who. I\u2019m interested in reading those who track new trends, practices and lesser-known artists. But such writings happen on too small a scale. Art writing will improve once people look at art not just as a decorative product but a way of seeing the world. Good art has to change perceptions.
\nAradhna Wal is a Sub Editor with Tehelka.\u00a0<\/em>
\naradhna@tehelka.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WHO Singh is a Delhi born and based mixed-media artist. He started his career as an art journalist, with a PG Diploma in Journalism from Asian College of Journalism. He has exhibited at the 2009 Indian Art Summit, the India-Australia show at Art Konsult, New Delhi, and the Aakriti Art Gallery in Kolkata. Why do […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":73,"featured_media":7590,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[21],"tags":[7051,7308,5728,7309,7310],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7569"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/users\/73"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7569"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7569\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}