Privation (Installation View)

Angela Grauerholz's showcase at the Madras Literary Society during Chennai Photo Biennale 2019. For the ‘Privation’ project, Angela scanned the front and back covers, of a selected number of the books that were damaged by fire, leaving their content either hidden from view, or, at times, only a title, a word, or part of an image was visible. Using the scanner as camera, the resulting digital images induced her to contemplate—and eventually gain a more profound understanding—of the regenerative aspects of ‘loss’. Apart from the loss of property, the transition from analogue to digital photography posed an almost unsurmountable problem for her, at that time. This became beautifully logical in its simplicity: an image of reality—as the scanner gave little room for interpretation—and the document, the digital image confronted with the fact that the absence of materiality, transforms the resulting image into a ‘mere’ reproduction - a print in the truest sense.