A Photogenetic Line (Installation View)

CAMP's showcase at Senate House during Chennai Photo Biennale 2019. A 100-foot long branching sequence of images is produced from The Hindu Photo Archives. These cutouts are a way of reframing and rebirthing existing photographs, as new organisms. Not to remove their background environment, nor to frame a heroic figure as in the traditional political cutout, but instead to create a new boundary or border for the image. A border that leads us to the next image. The sequence evolves by following one or more of these rules: (a). People grow older, or younger, (b) Things in the background come into the foreground, or vice versa, (c)Two photo captions refer to each other. In this way, we traverse a series of perceptual (shape), historical (time) and geographic (political) borders. Here, like in cinema, the cut is not a brick wall but an invitation: for increased traffic at any border.