You Can't Step Into The Same River Twice

Moved by the cruel transformation of a city he once loved, Harikrishna Katragadda used film to portray the near lethal toxicity of its waters.

- Harikrishna Katragadda

Anyone who has printed an image in a darkroom knows the magic of analogue photography, which digital cannot match. I belong to the last generation of photographers who learned photography in the darkroom, using chemicals to develop the film and print, just before the practice switched to digital cameras, Photoshop and digital printers. Cyanotype print-making, in particular, reminds me of why I fell in love with photography in the first place. Its intricate process brings me immense satisfaction as an artist.

It was during a workshop on the cyanotype process, when our instructor Brian Potts, mentioned the importance of using distilled water to mix chemicals to get the Prussian blue tones. That remark got me thinking about my struggle with black and white darkroom chemistry, where I mostly mixed chemicals with tap water, and not distilled water, as is recommended. I wondered how off the colours would be from the expected output if one were to use contaminated water as an extreme experiment. It struck me then that the medium could be tailored to make a statement about pollution. The question remained—where?