Since the 1990s, hand-painted signs in India – one of the defining elements of the country’s urban landscape – have been largely replaced by more technologically advanced media. Today, they survive in a vernacular culture quite distinct from largescale digital productions. The work of the sign-painters represents a visual itinerary through the historical-economic changes of Indian society over the years; paintings that emerge in vivid shapes and colours and humanise the sharp aesthetics of the subjects and objects of globalised capitalism.
The book showcases a part of artist Aradhana Seth’s photographic archive: a multitude of designs on shop shutters, doors, signs and the walls of various places of interest and businesses.
Contributors: Francesco Clemente, Kajri Jain
