The artworks presented in this exhibition were created during a 6 week residency at the CPB Darkroom. Working across different processes, the artists demonstrate the evolving possibilities of alternative and analog photographic techniques, often challenging traditional ideas. These projects draw on the darkroom as a space for meditative introspection, experimental discovery, friendship and camaraderie.
From the ethereal beauty of large-format paper negatives to the rich, textured surfaces of gum oil prints, and the unexpected dialogues between Al and experimental darkroom techniques, "Alt:Analog" presents a diverse exploration of material, process and concept.
Fighting Fish
Holy Birties reflects on her ongoing works inspired by the Thames River and The performers choreograph their roles as "Thames Monsters. In Chennsy Codum rivers, drawing parallels of sentimentality dedication, cars, den reverence for these sacred sources, contrasted with the toxicity and damage activities
The project Fighting Fish armbodies monstrosity, intertwining beauty with the grotenoumad death. The concept of "fight is initially explored through constructed performansty and costume. The project symbolizes an ecological struggle, whillettalets esined and emotional associations with place.
Birtles explores optical paradigms and artificial inteligence to bring these life forms anto existence. Dhe collaborates with the Al program Mid Joumey through image inputs and digital editing, transforming digital slmutations to experimental silver gelalin prints. The repetitive nature of Mid Journay la marored through darkroom maniputations, presenting multiple versions of the same image ar monste
Holly Birtles
Holy Birties is a UK based artist, her photographic practice incorporates performance, prop production, digital/analogue techniques, often in collaboration with writers, visual artists, and musicians. Har work connects performance to place, exploring ecologies and personal narratives associated with specific ecosystems. Recont projects integrate performance and Al into darkmom processes, mflecting on stow violence, ecological crises, myth and sentimentality linked to rivers
Stopping by the Woods
This on-going body of work is a visual exploration inspired by Robert Frost's Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening and the Tamil posm Kurincippättu. Blending artistio and documentary photography, I aim to evoke a sense of peace and tranquility through this series and reflect on landscapes, people and emotions I encountered during my travels through Tamil Nadu's mountain regions. After the opening of lockdown, the journey (spanning over 3,300km) became a space for personal refuge, where I connected with nature and its mysteries.
Inspired by the narratives of both the poems, I sought to create a visual dialogue with the landscape and its people, incorporating elements of mythology and personal memory. The gum-oil printing process transforms the landscapes into surreal, almost mystical places with its deep black-and-white tones adding texture and depth. As the project evolves, I aim to contiriue integrating broth real and fictional elements, offering a contemplative space where nature, myth and memory converge
Arun
Arun is a freelance photographer from India whose practice explores the Intersection of culture, identity, and the environment. Specializing in black-and-white medium format photography, he draws inspiration from the works of Lu Nan and Gordon Parks, focusing on geometry, light, and shadow, Alongside his contemporary approach, Arun has a passion for alternative photography techniques, blending modern and traditional methods. His work engages with themes of identity, memory, and the passage of time, reflecting on the complexities of modern life.
Camera and The Queer Image Chennai
Camera and the Queer Image-Chennai explores identity, belonging, and visibility, within China's queer community through the metaphorical and material use of paper negatives. This medium, existing between Image and print, parallels the queer experience of resisting rigid socletal labels and norms.
Traditional photography's structured process contrasts with the fluidity of paper negatives, whose imperfections reflect the resilience of quser identities. Working with a large-format camera heightened this metaphor the distortione from the bellows and the paper's resistance to confinement mirrored the tensions of navigating societal sxpectations
This project features black-and-white portraits of queer individuals from Chennai, collaboratively created in spaces around the city. These images colebrate agency and self-expression while asserting visibility within a conservative cultural landscape. By reclaiming the overlookad paper negative technique, the project invites effection on malities of queer communities. bias and fosters dialogue around inclusivity and the lived
Soham Joshi
Scham Joshi (b,2000) is an indian visual artist working between the UK and India. He uses cameraless and alternative photographic techniques to explore urbanity and identity. His meearch focuses on the materiality of photography and how we situate ourselves within the urban landscape