The Chennai Photo Biennale (CPB) Darkroom, tucked away inside their Lighthouse space in Kottivakkam, Chennai is a dimly lit sanctuary where film lovers and visual storytellers rediscover what it means to make an image.
Established in 2023 by renowned photographer Varun Gupta, the CPB Lighthouse is home to a community darkroom. Its aim is to bring analogue and alternative photography into the mainstream and to champion this community through workshops and programs. It also offers a service where photographers and analogue enthusiasts can drop off their film rolls for development.
Beyond these services, the Darkroom serves as an entry point into the world of analogue and alternative photography. From workshops that introduce the basics of shooting, developing, and scanning 35mm film, to sessions that explore cyanotypes using digital negatives or photo — style printing, the Darkroom has something to offer everyone — whether you’re a novice or an aficionado. These workshops, held across Chennai, are designed with one intent: to make these photographic practices more accessible.
But more than just a facility, the CPB Darkroom is the kind of space where you’re encouraged to fail, to re-do, to watch the magic of an image appear slowly in a chemical bath. Opportunities like fellowships, and meet-ups keep the place buzzing, while their photo — book library (stacked with over 350 titles) is a quiet corner for inspiration.
The Darkroom Residency 2024, done in collaboration with Photoworks UK, brought artists from Chennai and the UK together. The three selected artists worked for almost two months from Chennai to present their results at the Alt:Analog exhibition earlier this year. The exhibition covered all of Tamil Nadu from its mountains to the Adyar and Cooum rivers. It looked nothing like what you’d expect — gum oil landscapes blurring into dream states, analogue meeting AI. It was proof that old processes don’t have to mean old ideas.
The Darkroom is an antidote for an entire generation that has been raised on instant photography. I remember seeing my grandmother spending all summer clicking pictures of us on her old Konica and we would have to wait months to see them get developed, but the results were always worth it. It made those memories almost tangible. But the Darkroom isn’t just about nostalgia — building a community of makers who care about the “how” as much as the “what.”
So if you’re in Chennai and craving an art space that feels both grounded in the past but developing a more radical future, step into CPB Darkroom. It is giving today’s generation a chance to experience the thrill of watching an image come alive in the glow of red light.
If you enjoyed reading this, here's more from Homegrown:
Touching Light: Explore 200 Years Of Analogue Photography At This Gurugram Exhibition
Pure Street Photography Is A Homegrown Platform That's Nurturing The Art Form Globally
What Makes You Stay?: The Layered Storytelling In Tanmay Saxena's Photography