Alt:Analog

A site specific exhibition resulting from a 45-day darkroom residency at CPB Foundation.
Concept Note:
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 AI and experimental darkroom techniques, “Alt:Analog” presents a diverse exploration of material, process and concept.
Fighting Fish
Holly Birtles reflects on her ongoing work inspired by the Thames River London and Estuary in Kent, Essex and Suffolk, where performers and artists contemplate their choreographed roles as ‘Thames Monsters.’ In Chennai, Birtles responds to the Adyar and Cooum rivers, identifying parallels linked to sentimentality, dedication, care, and destruction. The paradox lies in the personal reverence for these sacred sources, juxtaposed with the toxicity and damage caused by anthropocentric activities and neglect.

The project Fighting Fish embodies monstrosity, intertwining beauty and magnificence with the grotesque, haze, mud, waste, life, and death. The concept of ‘fight’ is explored through performative examinations reminiscent of autopsies, and directed body language during constructed performances. The physicality of these gestures conveys an ecological struggle—a lack of oxygen and a growing frustration with governmental inefficiencies related to new infrastructure. The physicality also reflects an emotive or sentimental response that connects with personal and historical associations of place. One set of images pays homage to Dutch artist Bas Jan Ader’s I’m Too Sad to Tell You (1970–1971), a silent film and postcard exploring emotional fragility. The work intertwines Ader’s sadness with his tragic disappearance during a solo Atlantic crossing in 1975, where his boat was found adrift nine months later. The homage portrays a melancholic man psychically attached to a fish in various forms. Birtles redirects Ader’s despair and sadness, reflecting on the severity of polluted rivers and the human dedication to bodies of water.

Birtles explores optical paradigms and artificial intelligence to bring these life forms into existence. In the book On the Existence of Digital Objects, Yuk Hui describes computer generated images as “digital objects”, referring to new imagery that responds to real-world objects. This concept positions CGI as a digital truth, maintaining authenticity in its own form. Birtles adopts this framework by using selected imagery of creatures, textures, performances, places, and portraits to create her own ‘digital objects.’ She subverts and collaborates with the AI pro- gram Mid Journey through image inputs and digital editing, transforming digital simulations into experimental silver gelatin prints. The repetitive nature of Mid Journey, which generates multiple versions of the same image, is reflected in her darkroom manipulation, often disregarding traditional processes. The unified and repetitive display reflects the AI interface, depicting multiple versions of the same image or ‘monster.’