Imageine: Darkroom stories

Two hundred years ago, a Frenchman named Nicephore Niepce created the first ‘photographic’ image using a camera obscura. His colleague, Louis Daguerre, went on to invent the iconic daguerreotype process, laying the foundation for truthful likeness of the image. Nineteenth-century alchemists took image-making processes to new and inventive heights, making the arrival of photography, without doubt, one of the most impactful developments in the history of humankind. ‘Touching Light: A Prelude to the Bicentennial of Photography (1827-2027)’ is a tribute, an ode to the practice and practitioners of photography, as we celebrate the bicentennial of the medium.

At the age of 16, my journey began in the darkroom of the renowned photographer Kulwant Roy, who chronicled the events that defined the destiny of India as it struggled for and achieved Independence.

I started by washing his prints and was introduced to the world of photography in the dim red glow of his darkroom. There, I learned the slow, deliberate process of analog photography: watching an image slowly emerge on paper, and understanding the patience, precision and anticipation that defined the craft.

The journey of analog photographers in India over the past two centuries is a tapestry interwoven with colonial history, social transformation, artistic exploration, and the preservation of memory, alongside a rich and robust commercial practice.

Its history is not a single story, but rather, many intertwined tales, with each photograph a precious fragment, each artefact an anecdote. Together, they form an evolving narrative that continues to inspire, inform and connect us to our past and each other.

‘Touching Light’ features carte de visite from the Bourne & Shepherd Studio (1860s), original albumen prints from the ‘People of India’ series (1850s–1860s), and the ‘Beauties of Lucknow’ series attributed to Darogah Abbas Ali (1874), from the collection of Museo Camera/India Photo Archive. Alongside, it showcases analog silver prints, chemigrams and diapositives (slides) by 28 contemporary Indian photographers.

The analog photographs bear unique characteristics — grain, light leaks and colour shifts — that arise from the physical and chemical processes involved. These imperfections add personality and authenticity to each image and the inherent fragility of the medium, both in materials and process.

The show is a celebration of the practitioners who have shaped the visual history of India, and invites viewers to reflect on the enduring allure of analog photography.

— Arya is founder-director of Museo Camera, Centre for the Photographic Arts. He has curated the exhibition, on display at Museo Camera in Gurugram until September 29