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Kochi Pillar

Artist Dayanita Singh (Indian, born 1961)
Date2015
MediumMixed media with inkjet prints
DimensionsOverall: 89 5/8 × 22 × 21 3/4 inches (227.65 × 55.88 × 55.25 cm)
Credit LineGift of the Hall Family Foundation
Object number2016.75.266.1-35
Signednone
Inscribednone
Markingsnone
On View
Not on view
Collections
DescriptionThe "pillar" is a wooden structure that includes hardware (23 wooden rods), 3 smaller removable interior boxes, and 31 framed photographs. The doors are hinged with removable slats at the top.Gallery Label

Dayanita Singh’s Kochi Pillar pays homage to the Library Movement of Kerala, a state in southwest India. The mass cultural movement greatly expanded literacy in that state in the 1990s. The work merges sculpture and photography to create, in the artist’s words, a “mobile museum.” The photographs can be moved and rearranged within the structure, permitting multiple narratives and groupings.

Provenance
The Hall Family Foundation, Kansas City, MO, 2016;   
Their gift to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2016.
Copyright© Dayanita Singh
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Memory Keeper
Dayanita Singh
2014-2015
2016.75.267
Book Number 160
Keith Smith
1991
2016.75.268.1-6
Untitled
Deborah Turbeville
1980
2017.24.27
Summertime
Khalif Tahir Thompson
2022
3.2023.1,2
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Ke-Sook Lee
2000
2017.69.2
Double Rembrandt with Steps
Doug and Mike Starn
1987; printed 1991
2005.27.4074.A,B
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early-mid-20th century
2005.36.A-D
Overall. Image provided by gallery - not for public use.
2022
2025.1.1-19
Umbrella stand and drip tray
Christopher Dresser
designed ca. 1871
2017.60.1,2