CELEBRATING ANALOG PHOTOGRAPHY

CELEBRATING ANALOGUE PHOTOGRAPHY

Inauguration at Museo Camera on 22nd August at 6PM

Exhibition Dates: 23rd August-29th September

While the camera obscura had existed since the 1400s and was used by famous artists like Johannes Vermeer to help create his iconic paintings, it was about two hundred years ago that French innovator Nicéphore Niépce devised how to use it to capture the view from his window on a tin plate. Within a few years, another Frenchman, Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre, invented a process capable of capturing that magic called a “truthful likeness.” The French government’s decision to make the daguerreotype a free gift to the world in 1839 became a significant moment in the history of photography. These processes of invention and discovery continued to transform and evolve photography around the globe. By the late 19th century, it had developed into a powerful tool of documentation, objective representation, and artistic possibilities. Over time, photography has become an instantaneous, globally accessible, and democratic medium. But its origins in view and plate cameras, darkrooms, and the wonder of its alchemy have since largely escaped public memory.

“Touching Light” invites the audience to relive the physical relationship between light, chemicals, materials, touch, and the photographic image. The exhibition traces the evolution of analog photographic practices in India from the 19th century to the present. It celebrates the passion and dedication of photographers and artists who have helped shape India’s visual memory. On show will be rare cameras, negatives, and prints from the Museo Camera collection and invited Indian photographers. Shifting the focus to the materiality and complexities of analog images, “Touching Light” will be an aesthetic and tactile encounter that reminds us of photography’s fascinating beginnings and celebrates its journey as a medium of documentation, creativity, and expression.

Curated by Aditya Arya