Pamella Bordes

Pamella Bordes, born Pamela Singh (born 1966) is an Indian-born photographer and former Miss India who briefly hit the headlines in the United Kingdom in 1988 and 1989 as the mistress and escort [Summerskill, Bill. [http://observer.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,764496,00.html "Paper tiger"] , "The Observer", July 28, 2002, retrieved November 14, 2006.] [Roy, Amit. [http://www.telegraphindia.com/1051009/asp/look/story_5332693.asp "A trip down memory lane"] , "The Telegraph", October 9, 2005, retrieved November 14, 2006.] [ [http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23374156-details/Billionaire+arms+dealer+breaks+his+silence+over+claims+he+hired+Heather+Mills+as+escort/article.do "Billionaire arms dealer breaks his silence over claims he hired Heather Mills as escort"] , "ThisisLondon", November 11, 2006, retrieved November 14, 2006.] of several notable individuals, including billionaire arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi. She had been known in society columns as a social companion of then "Sunday Times" editor Andrew Neil and of junior minister Colin Moynihan; it was then discovered she had a House of Commons security pass arranged by MPs David Shaw and Henry Bellingham. The "Evening Standard" and "Daily Mail" [ [http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Ys8xU0c8KEc "Pamella Bordes Daily Mail promo advert 1989"] , "Youtube", 26 February 2008, retrieved 7 October, 2008.] published allegations that she was associated with a Libyan security official named Ahmed Gadaff Al Daim, raising issues similar to the 1960s Profumo affair, or more broadly the World War I spy Mata Hari.

Singh was born in New Delhi, her father was an officer in the Indian Army. She attended the Maharani Gayatri Devi Girls’ Public School in Jaipur until when she transferred to the Lady Sri Ram College in Delhi to study literature. She won the Miss India crown in 1982 and represented India in the Miss Universe pageant the same year. She subsequently moved to Europe, where she met and married Dominick Bordes. She spent years recovering from scars after a moped accident in Bali. She and her friend Rachael while riding on a small moped, were chased by the paparazzi until the moped eventually crashed. Both she and her friend Rachael sustained injuries to their faces and bodies. Not long afterwards, the local Bali police came up with a plan to help her escape the paparazzi and she left the island of Bali. Eventually she had plastic surgery for her facial injuries.

Photography

Pamela Singh, studied at the Parsons School of Design in New York, The American College in Paris, France and the International Centre of Photography, New York. [Khosla, Surabhi. [http://www.the-south-asian.com/May2004/pamela_singh_photography.htm "Shooting what she loves"] , "the-south-asian.com", May, 2004 , retrieved 7 October, 2008.] She started working in the dark room at the age of 13 experimenting with old negatives. [ Thayil, Jeet. [http://www.rediff.com/us/2001/aug/08inter.htm "Pamela Singh's new passion: art photography"] , "rediff.com", 8 August, 2001, retrieved 7 October, 2008.] She took pictures much later on and initially worked as a photojournalist in Africa, Southeast Asia and India. Her work was distributed by Gamma Press Photos and was published in journals and magazines like The Independent of London, The Sunday Times, Marie Claire, The Washington Post, Newsweek, Paris Match and Photo.

While In Africa she also made wildlife documentaries as camera women with 16mm film, and later photographed the civil unrest of the continent. After leaving Africa she moved to New York and worked only in black and white photography for several years. Her work featured in India: A celebration of independence organized by the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania in 1997 and accompanied by a catalogue and essay by Victor Anant, published by Aperture, NY. This exhibition travelled worldwide. The same year her work appeared in a group show titled Black and White sponsored by the Ford foundation.

In 2003 she adopted a new style of work mostly self portraits using mixed media in which the work was photographed and hand painted, leading to a solo exhibition at Admit One Gallery, New York. She simultaneously opened with Sepia International Gallery, New York, showing her portfolio from Ankgor Wat, Cambodia. Her work lead to outstanding reviews in The New York Times for both bodies of work. She has also shown her work in shows at The Art Complex Museum, Duxbury, MA, Auckland Museum of Art, University of Carolina, The Daimler Contemporary , Germany, and Naturemorte, New Delhi. [ Pamela Singh. [http://www.artfacts.net/index.php/pageType/artistInfo/artist/38090/lang/1#Biography "Artists"] , "artfacts.net", retrieved 7 October, 2008.]

References

External links

* [http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/specials/proj_tabloid/pamelafeature1.shtml Feature] from the "Hindustan Times"

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before=Ruchita Kumar
title=Miss India
years=1982
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