Develop(ing) Narratives
Anmol Baliga
Would a deliberate injection of texture, grain, physicality of some sort, going forward all under the rubric of ‘tactile
design’, alter human experience?
Through photography and multi-sensory installation, Develop(ing) Narratives explores the coexistence of digital and
tangible storytelling. Rather than rejecting technology, it asks: How can digital tools complement tactile engagement
rather than overshadow it? By merging these elements, it explores how sensory experiences alter how we relate to
objects, memories and experiences and amplify emotional responses.
Expose: Revealing the unseen, exposing layers.
The first layer expose – represents the initial act of revelation. The moment when a memory comes to light is often uninvited. This is similar to film at its most vulnerable state when exposed to light without it being completely developed, this layer is about vulnerability, about letting the memories come forward.
Develop: Formed through time and shaped by imperfections
Develop, where memory becomes a composite. Here, each fragment, each layer builds towards a whole, a more complex experience. Developing is not just what is visible but is about what has been exposed but reaching towards the process of becoming something whole – developing.
Wash: Washed by sensation, flooded with memories
With wash I entered a stage where memory becomes fluid, malleable as though washed over by waves of sensation. In designing this, the typography layout was almost like water dripping, like a flowing pattern – washing like reliving a process that submerges these memories in water (read as sensation) softening the edges, the colours but in fact deeping the emotions within.
Fix: Perfection and Imperfection
In Fix, memory takes on a more defined form. When developing film, the fixer stabilises an image – here I attempted to preserve memories, to hold them in a static state - for a moment. But, in our life, permanence might be an illusion - memories even ‘fixed’ are delicate and vulnerable to fading and reinterpretation.
Threads of Voice
The manifesto embraces slowness, imperfection, and the tactile traces of making. Layered voices – accents, pauses, breaths – echo the textures I scratch into images. Disruptions are intentional, not flaws. Even digitally, material holds memory. Like Scrabble cubes, each layer becomes a mark of history – felt, fragmented, and beautifully unfinished.
What marks will we leave?
