Nancy Singh’s work investigates broader historical and cultural structures, revealing how they shape our understanding of gender, identity and memory, with particular attention to her Indian heritage. In this series, Biyaban Kothi – the house of unbecoming, the artist examines the dual nature of Indian marriage: on the one hand, its celebratory aspect, often reduced by Western culture to the stereotype of the so-called ‘big fat Indian wedding’; on the other, the practice of arranged marriage, which remains widespread in some parts of the country.
The three photographs present carefully constructed scenes reminiscent of tableaux vivants and archival photography, reflecting on the emotional, social, spiritual and political significance of marriage for Indian women. The series takes as its starting point the story of the artist’s mother, who was forced to abandon her career in beauty pageants because of the familial and social expectations associated with marriage and motherhood – a constraint that profoundly shaped much of her life.
Broadening its scope, the series questions marriage as an institution: what does it truly offer women, and what transformations and sacrifices does it impose upon their lives? The work seeks to convey the weight of a possibility that was never realised, evoking what was lost in terms of identity and the freedom to determine one’s own future.
The series dwells on the gravity of the moment itself. Rigid poses and stillness characterise the images, as though each action had been interrupted halfway through. The atmosphere is almost austere, where one might instead expect movement, joy, chaos and celebration. In Biyaban Kothi – the house of unbecoming #3, the bride stands behind another woman, the two inextricably bound together by transparent film that is at once fragile and restrictive. They advance as if in a procession towards marriage – a life-changing moment imbued with a particular solemnity. Biyaban Kothi – the house of unbecoming #2 focuses instead on one of the wedding rituals: in the foreground, the bride’s feet, painted red, rest upon the bed in accordance with the tradition of Alta, a ceremony welcoming the newlywed bride into her new home. The red pigment symbolises good fortune, fertility and prosperity, as well as the reception of divine energy into a new chapter of life.
This paradox – marriage as both celebration and constraint – is clearly reflected in the title of the series: Biyaban Kothi – the house of unbecoming. Marriage makes the creation of a home possible, yet, in the eyes of society, it forecloses the possibility of becoming something else, something other than a wife or mother: an unravelling of all that one once dreamt of becoming.
Nancy Singh (born in 1998 in Allahabad) is a visual artist and researcher working primarily with photography and video between India and the United Kingdom, and currently based in London. Her practice explores the intersections of gender, identity, culture and memory. Drawing on personal and political lived experience, she uses the image to examine shifting conditions of visibility, erasure, belonging and social tension.
Singh received the Young Woman in Art Award – Women in Art Prize for her ongoing project I Went Back to See Them. She was also awarded funding through Camden Council’s One Kilburn Community Fund in London for her short film Galactic Icons.
Text by Mirta Gianocca