A Way into India

A Way into India by Raghubir Singh

Raghubir Singh (1942-1999) was considered one of the finest contemporary photographers. Born in Rajasthan, India, his work is in the permanent collections of a number of major museums, including the Art Institute of Chicago, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. "A Way into India" is Singh's last photographic project and is a testament to his love affair with sights, sounds and colours of his homeland, but also with one of its most unexpected icons - the Ambassador car. Continuously in production in Indian since 1957, the Ambassador is everywhere to be seen, in all possible guises, from delivery van to diplomatic limousine, and has become something quintessentially Indian. Travelling back and forth across the country, Raghubir Singh reveals India through windows of the Ambassador. Amongst the bustle of the towns and the majesty of the countryside there are rotting cars and pristine new ones being used as taxis and poultry vans. Temples and tourists, monsoon rains, paddy fields, tea plantations and elephants are dramatically framed by the Ambassador's distinctive curves. The old and the new sit side by side as Singh and the Ambassador show us a way into India.

A Way into India by Raghubir Singh