In approaching this project, I was inspired by New Delhi’s rich heritage of modern architecture and choose to focus on utilitarian water towers found around the city. Working with a large format camera and colour film, I show these industrial structures in the centre of the frame silhouetted against the sky in contrast to the city unfolding around them.

As physical markers in the landscape, the water towers present an alternate mapping of the city, drawing attention to housing colonies, factories and parks. In this capacity they are linked to large scale industrial projects such as dams, steel and power plants, factories, social housing, scientific research institutes along with bridges and other infrastructure (all built with concrete) that promised a path towards self sufficiency for India and a way to modernise a largely agrarian society. The photographs also function as a typographical study allowing for comparison of features of these structures and of the landscape around them.

Pigment prints
Edition of 7

RANDHIR SINGH