HYDERABAD: We live in a world where crystal-clear, high-definition pictures sit side by side with blurry, pixelated snapshots — and both tell equally powerful stories. That’s the idea behind ‘Highly Grainy’, an exhibition that dives into the relationship between photography and granularity. Whether it’s the polished precision of a professional camera or the gritty charm of a low-res phone photo, these images shape how we see, remember, and share the world around us.
Srinivas Adithya Mopidevi, curator, says the exhibition draws from two key ideas Hito Steyerl’s theory of the ‘poor image’, which celebrates low-resolution visuals as vital carriers of information in a hyperconnected world, and Walid Raad’s reflections on analog photography as a medium that transitioned from grainy black-and-white prints to an authoritative record of reality. Together, these ideas set the stage for a conversation about how grains and pixels define our world, visually and conceptually.
The works at Dhi Contemporary reflect a range of perspectives, for instance a Delhi-based photographer Dayanita Singh whose images might not look grainy in the literal sense, but her approach to storytelling is deeply granular.
For over two decades, she followed the life of tabla maestro Zakir Hussain — not just his professional achievements but the quieter, more personal dimensions. The result is an intimate portrait of a life, layered like grains in a larger narrative.
In contrast, Azadi from Iran, brings the immediacy of graininess to her documentation of the women’s uprisings in her country. Her images, pulled from protests and their aftermath, are raw and urgent.
They reflect a reality that feels both fractured and powerful, where found images and recreated scenes work together to tell stories of resistance against oppression.
Ashima Raizada’s contribution shifts the focus to personal relationships. Her work is about her brother, who is on the autism spectrum. Having been his caregiver and closest companion, Ashima uses old photos, objects he cherishes, and newly created images to piece together a loving, multifaceted portrait of their bond. It’s not about literal documentation but it is more about capturing the beauty of a bond.
Moving to Assam, Pallov Saikia, takes us to a village — Rahamaria Archive — where the Brahmaputra River wreaks havoc year after year. His photographs document this ongoing ecological and human crisis, creating a stark visual record of life shaped by nature’s unrelenting forces.
Hari Katragadda offers a poetic counterpoint with his cyanotypes of the Ganga river. By submerging prints into the river for hours, he captures the flow and foam in a way that feels tactile, almost alive. Each print becomes a snapshot of the river’s dynamic personality — grainy in its own way, yet deeply evocative.
Then there’s Enit Maria, who takes photography back to basics with her handmade analog cameras. Using cardboard boxes and film, she creates unique images with long exposure times. Her approach feels experimental yet grounded, a reminder of the tactile, hands-on nature of image-making in the pre-digital era.
Soumya Sankar Bose, on the other hand, dives into history through the Jatra Archive in Bengal. He revisits the tradition of travelling performances, where actors became known for their characters, like Krishna or Satyabhama. He not only reimagines these roles through photographs but also asks the performers to don their costumes again, creating powerful images that merge past and present.
Jaisingh Nageswaran brings us back to activism with his quiet, reflective portrait of Medha Patkar. Known for leading massive protests to save the Narmada River, Medha Patkar is often seen in crowded, chaotic images. But, here, Jaisingh presents her in a rare moment of calm, gazing at the landscape she has fought so hard to protect.
Finally, Hito Steyerl herself contributes a piece that reenacts the story of a Kurdish uprising and the death of a protester. Through her film, she blends art and activism, using graininess as both an aesthetic and a political statement about memory, violence, and storytelling.
Together, these works bring together the idea of a world where grains and pixels aren’t just technical details but metaphors for the way we live and remember. The exhibition invites us to see beauty in imperfection and truth in the rough edges of images that define our reality.