As Dayanita Singh and Jyotindra Jain, photographer and curator offset one another under sepia-toned lights, it’s Jain who raises the ubi–quitous question about art and its target audience, a thought which takes me back a few weeks to The Photograph: Painted, posed and of the moment exhibit at the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA).

On display were Henri Cartier-Bresson, Pablo Bartholomew, Umrao Singh Sher-Gil and mother-daughter duo Nony and Dayanita Singh, among others. Ascending the stairs I actually walked right past Singh’s exhibit and had to retrace my steps. I had assumed it to be a preview of sorts, given its diminutive dimensions and the fact that one of these fold-outs contained Nony Singh’s photography which was on display as well.

The accordion fold-out titled Sent A Letter was set atop plywood ledges that took on an inverted U formation. What struck me almost immediately was the sense that this became a more private viewing experience. While I could remain detached and stand and view the other leviathans at eye-level, I had to bend over and really concentrate on this pocket-book display to decipher the intricacies of the images which featured interiors, seaside landscapes, museums and book displays. And the fact that these were mass-produced and on sale at a reasonable price in their original format made me reconsider the notion of art for the masses.

The Marxist thinker, Walter Benjamin, in his somewhat premature evaluation of capitalism celebrated the loss of ‘aura’ (authenticity) that surrounded canonical works of art. Van Gogh on coffee mugs and Manet on table mats were essential in disseminating savoir-faire and giving a new sense of perception by calling on a different degree of participation. Singh’s works showcased just this. By making them pint-sized and viewer friendly, she made it possible to examine these while unwinding on a rocking chair. Considering her subject matter, you begin to realise that even family albums can be deemed art.