There are certain moments in the lifetime of an individual when history offers an invisible hand. It requires a bit of chutzpah to take that moment head on. It was one such moment in 1986 that led an 18-year-old Dayanita Singh on a pathway that interspersed with one of the brightest stars of the 20th Century Indian musical firmament, Ustad Zakir Hussain. The exhibition, Zakir Hussain — Learning to Learn: A tribute by Dayanita  Singh, is a testament to that journey.

A moment in time

Oddly, the first South Asian to win the famed Hasselblad Award says photography was the last thing on her mind in 1986. “I was studying typography. The class assignment was to photograph the moods of a person. I thought I would capture Zakirji [Hussain] since he was performing, and because he was so expressive,” the 65-year-old celebrated photographer recalls.