Panelists:

- Aishwarya Arumbakkkam - Contemporary Artist

- Arpan Mukherjee - Contemporary Artist, Associate Professor-Kala Bhavan

- Varun Gupta - Director, Chennai Photo Biennale

In the era of instant everything, this conversation will probe the why of working with inherently slow process of analog and alternative photography to create personal projects. Get a window into the worlds of master practitioners Arpan Mukherjee and Aishwarya Arumbakkam who in their own practice and pedagogy drive experimentation with the history of the photographic medium layering the element of time into their work at a multitude of levels.

Aishwarya Arumbakkam (b. 1988) is a visual artist from Chennai, India who works across photography, filmmaking, and drawing. She was honored as one of the ‘Ones to Watch’ by the British Journal of Photography in 2019. In 2020, Arumbakkam was awarded the Magnum Foundation Photography and Social Justice Fellowship. Her work has been exhibited at Testsite, Austin (2023); The South London Gallery (2022); The Visual Arts Center, Austin (2022, 2020); and Ishara Art Foundation, Dubai (2021).

Arpan Mukherjee, an Associate Professor at Kala Bhavan, Visva Bharati, is an interdisciplinary artist based in Santiniketan. Focused on heritage photographic processes, Mukherjee has spent two decades researching and experimenting with 19th-century methods like gum dichromate and wet plate collodion etc. His innovative work has been showcased internationally and nationally, including a notable collaboration with the British Library and CSMVS, Mumbai in 2023 and participation in the Bengal Biennale 2024. Co- founder of Studio Goppo, Mukherjee continues to push the boundaries of contemporary photography, blending history with modern artistic expression. His solo show & quot;Impermanence" is currently on display at Cymroza Art Gallery, Mumbai, until March 15th.

Varun Gupta is a photographer for the last two decades, a serial entrepreneur and a lover of analogue and alternative photography practices who co-founded the Chennai Photo Biennale and the CPB Foundation, a non-profit organization that is focused on growing the photography community in India and South Asia. Varun serves as a collaborator and advisor to Photo Australia in Melbourne, and the Belfast Photo Festival in the UK and works closely with arts organisations across India. When not at his desk, he can be found in his darkroom experimenting with chemical processes and printmaking.

His alma maters include Light & Life Academy and the College of Wooster, US. In 2006, he founded Travelling Lens - a company that conducted specialised photography workshops and holidays in remote areas of India. In 2010, Varun began work with Art Chennai (a city-wide arts event) to manage their photography exhibitions with a focus on public engagement through which they organised large exhibitions in train stations and beaches in Chennai. Photo Seva is one of his long-term portraiture projects where he travels to make portraits of local communities across India with a large-format camera and B&W film. Varun is based in Chennai, India.

In 2023, Varun helped establish the CPB Lighthouse - a center for photography based in Kotivakkam Chennai which houses his longterm dream project - a large-scale community darkroom. The CPB Darkroom in one year has quickly become a major landmark for the community across India providing workshops and services that allow newer generations of photographers to discover the magic of historical photography practices.

CATCH THE CONVERSATION HERE!