Name: Ajay Malghan
Which came first in your life, the science or the art?
Science came first, my father is a chemical engineer and a lot of our weekends were spent in his labs. I didn’t have much appreciation for it then but he took the time to show us all the experiments going on and introduced us to his colleagues. He enrolled my brother and I in a program called Adventures in Science so every Saturday morning we would conduct experiments which included freezing things with liquid nitrogen, building rockets or dissecting cow hearts. I think that period was really influential for both my brother and me.
Which sciences relate to your art practice?
Chemistry and Astronomy would be the most relevant ones. I thoroughly enjoy reading how different cinematographers manipulate their film stock during developing to obtain a specific aesthetic. The temperature and solutions they use are extremely sensitive and there’s no room for error just as in science, its chemistry in the name of art.
What do you use to create your artworks?
The darkroom, photo paper, film, glass, coffee, MSG, oven cleaner, banana peels, corn stalks, cheeseburgers…I’m not picky, I’ll use whatever is around me. The core of my practice is taking something simple and using my perspective to show it in a new or otherwise beautiful manner.
Artwork/Exhibition you are most proud of:
The exhibition I’m most proud of is holding a pop-up in Suttur, India after teaching a month of photography workshops. We printed images of the students’ work (around 250), placed ours on the sides and they took the prints at the end of evening. None of students had never seen an exhibition before so it was a proud moment for everyone.
Is there anything else you want to tell us?
I recently switched from drinking coffee to green tea and it has been an immense help in dealing with my ADD.
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