As photography approaches its bicentennial milestone in 2027, Museo Camera announces TOUCHING LIGHT: A Prelude to the Bicentennial of Photography (1827–2027), an exhibition curated by Aditya Arya that pays tribute to the practitioners and practice of analog photography. Having opened on 23rd August 2025, the exhibition will run until 29th September 2025.
Two hundred years ago, French inventor Nicéphore Niépce created the world’s first photographic image, followed by Louis Daguerre’s invention of the daguerreotype, a breakthrough that altered how humankind recorded likeness, memory, and history. Since then, photography has stood as one of the most profound inventions, transforming the ways we see and remember.
In India, the journey of analog photographers over two centuries reflects adaptation, resilience, and creativity. Working with scarce resources, early practitioners embraced jugaad—creative improvisation—to build a practice that chronicled colonial histories, social transformations, and the evolving cultural fabric of the nation. Their photographs today stand as precious fragments of memory– a testament to both artistic vision and historical record.
Analog photography, with its tactile processes, remains unparalleled in its immersive nature. From loading film to the suspense of the darkroom, the medium invites intimacy between the photographer, subject, and image. Each print carries imperfections—grain, leaks, shifts in tone—that add to its authenticity, fragility, and enduring allure.
TOUCHING LIGHT brings together rare historical photographs alongside works by 28 contemporary Indian photographers. Highlights include, Carte de Visite from Bourne & Shepherd Studio (1860s), Albumen prints from the ‘People of India’ series (1850s–1860s) and ‘Beauties of Lucknow’ series attributed to Darogah Abbas Ali (1874). These archival treasures from Museo Camera / India Photo Archive are presented alongside analog silver prints, chemigrams, and diapositives by leading practitioners including Aditya Arya, Akash Das, Avinash Aggarwal, Avinash Pasricha, Bandeep Singh, Dinesh Khanna, Fawzan Hussain, Harbans Mody, Hardev Singh, Jayant Shaw, Kulwant Roy, Mahesh Bhatt, Mala Mukerjee, Neeraj Priyadarshi, the NK Dasappa Archive, Parthiv Shah, Prabir Purkayastha, Pradeep Chandra, Pradeep Dasgupta, Prashant Panjiar, Ram Rahman, Rohit Chawla, Saibal Das, Serena Chopra, Sondeep Shankar, Sumiko Nanda, the Thiagrajan Archive, and T. Narayan.
Speaking on the exhibition, Aditya Arya, Founding Director of Museo Camera, says:
'TOUCHING LIGHT is an ode to the pioneers and contemporary masters of photography whose vision and craft have shaped India’s visual history. This exhibition is both a celebration and a reminder of analog photography’s lasting beauty and significance as we approach 200 years of the medium.' Through historical archives and contemporary practices, TOUCHING LIGHT celebrates photography not only as image but as object– fragile, imperfect, and profoundly human. It invites audiences to engage with the materiality of memory, honoring the legacy of those who preserved and shaped India’s photographic heritage.
The exhibition opened on 23rd August and will stay on until 29th September at Museo Camera, Gurgaon.
Date 25-08-2025