From Today
Photography is Dead

P. Madhavan

Right from the days of daguerreotypes, Indians have constantly moved towards the popular culture, the
latest trend and, in the process, we’ve distanced ourselves from a deeper understanding of the photographic
process, which has been merely used for commerce and as a leisure activity. In India, neither do we have
enough knowledge nor have we done any significant scientific research in the chemical and physical aspects
of photography, leading to the absence of crucial information about the previously artistic, commercial,
experimental photographic processes and technologies practiced in India and in rest of the world.
Furthermore, there is no systematic documentation available about optimizing the processes that were most
commonly being used to suit the Indian climatic, optical and socio-economic conditions, and there are no
visible attempts for a similar proposition.
So far, photography researches in India have been confined to the anthropological and archival arena.
For example, John Falconer’s seminal research on early photography in India; Christopher Pinney’s
extensive writings about the historical and anthropological aspects of photography in India (Christopher
is one of the first scholars to celebrate India’s adaption of photography); numerous publications by the Alkazi Collection of
Photography; Malavika Karlekar’s research into the history of early photography in Bengal, investigating it’s use as a social tool by the urban upper classes to record their changing lifestyles in the 19th century; Sabeena Gadihoke’s study of women photographers in India, investigating their important role and distinct approach in the field, leading to the formation of a media course centered on women and photography. In the backdrop of the aforementioned historical background, Goa
Center for Alternative Photography (Goa-CAP) was initiated in 2010, to create an ecosystem where scholars of Arts
and Humanities collaborate and research on the history, theory, philosophy and practice of photography.
The core aim of the Goa-CAP is to increase knowledge and understanding of photography, to provide the
evidence-based inputs to strengthen and influence policy and decision-making on photography and to
advance professional practice and underpin service development by the generation and the testing of new
ideas which can then lead to new knowledge generation and innovation in photography.