<p>About two years ago, I got a call from my good friend Harish Sriram, former deputy mayor of Bengaluru, with a request for me to meet one of his friends, Nonavinakere D Lingaraju, and take a look at a bagful of negatives of Lingaraju's father, who was a photographer. When I went to Harish's office, I looked at the negatives, and my jaw dropped. They were superbly photographed and skilfully processed. </p>.<p>The subject matter – Karnataka's political and cultural history of the 60s to early 80s, was even more appealing. There were many rare images, all taken by the photographer, N K Dasappa. And Nagaraju had several bags of negatives. Most of them were in good shape, thanks to the dry weather of Bengaluru. </p>.<p>Nagaraju requested me to scan and restore the images. I readily agreed to do the work as a mark of my respect for a great, albeit, forgotten photographer. I took them to my studio at Srishti Manipal Institute of Art, Design & Technology (SMI). We are well-equipped to do this work, with a high-end scanner and computer workstations to retouch the pictures, as well as an analogue lab to clean the negatives. With the help of my students, I scanned the negatives, and we digitally restored the images with great care.</p>.<p>"Dasappa was a Bengalurean, a Kannadiga. I am delighted that several of his images have been restored, and I hope people can view them," says Harish Sriram, who facilitated this restoration process by bringing us together. Lingaraju felt immense pride when he saw the images for the first time and hoped to make them into a book.</p>.<p>Dasappa was born into a poor family of weavers in 1939 in a small village called Nonavinakere, not too far from Bengaluru. Soon after his birth, his parents sold their meagre possessions — two handlooms and a small piece of land, and migrated to the city. He studied cinematography, obtained a diploma and joined the state government as a photochemist in the Department of Information. </p>.<p>Over the years, he held various roles, including that of the department's joint director, the public relations officer at the Bengaluru Development Authority, Office of the Police Commissioner, and the office of the Director General. He worked closely with D Devaraj Urs, one of the well-loved chief ministers of the state.</p>.<p>Photographers used film (analogue) till the first decade of the 21st century, and their work depicts the visual history of modern India – the culture, politics and daily life. Hence, archiving work from this era is critical. </p>.<p>Many archives are already lost, except for those by a handful of photographers of that era. This work needs funding, which is very hard to come by. We also need to ask how these archives could be restored, cared for, and, more importantly, made accessible to the general public, academia and research. As of now, there are no answers.</p>.<p>One of my students, Muskan Chauhan, who interned with me on this project and worked on scanning negatives, retouching and curating a small exhibition, says, "Engaging with Dasappa's photographs brought a historical connection. I was captivated by the vivid narratives of Karnataka's socio-political history. Contributing to the restoration of a lost legacy brought privilege and joy.”</p>.<p>Dasappa's archive needs to reach a wider audience, perhaps a retrospective exhibition would be a fitting tribute.</p>
<p>About two years ago, I got a call from my good friend Harish Sriram, former deputy mayor of Bengaluru, with a request for me to meet one of his friends, Nonavinakere D Lingaraju, and take a look at a bagful of negatives of Lingaraju's father, who was a photographer. When I went to Harish's office, I looked at the negatives, and my jaw dropped. They were superbly photographed and skilfully processed. </p>.<p>The subject matter – Karnataka's political and cultural history of the 60s to early 80s, was even more appealing. There were many rare images, all taken by the photographer, N K Dasappa. And Nagaraju had several bags of negatives. Most of them were in good shape, thanks to the dry weather of Bengaluru. </p>.<p>Nagaraju requested me to scan and restore the images. I readily agreed to do the work as a mark of my respect for a great, albeit, forgotten photographer. I took them to my studio at Srishti Manipal Institute of Art, Design & Technology (SMI). We are well-equipped to do this work, with a high-end scanner and computer workstations to retouch the pictures, as well as an analogue lab to clean the negatives. With the help of my students, I scanned the negatives, and we digitally restored the images with great care.</p>.<p>"Dasappa was a Bengalurean, a Kannadiga. I am delighted that several of his images have been restored, and I hope people can view them," says Harish Sriram, who facilitated this restoration process by bringing us together. Lingaraju felt immense pride when he saw the images for the first time and hoped to make them into a book.</p>.<p>Dasappa was born into a poor family of weavers in 1939 in a small village called Nonavinakere, not too far from Bengaluru. Soon after his birth, his parents sold their meagre possessions — two handlooms and a small piece of land, and migrated to the city. He studied cinematography, obtained a diploma and joined the state government as a photochemist in the Department of Information. </p>.<p>Over the years, he held various roles, including that of the department's joint director, the public relations officer at the Bengaluru Development Authority, Office of the Police Commissioner, and the office of the Director General. He worked closely with D Devaraj Urs, one of the well-loved chief ministers of the state.</p>.<p>Photographers used film (analogue) till the first decade of the 21st century, and their work depicts the visual history of modern India – the culture, politics and daily life. Hence, archiving work from this era is critical. </p>.<p>Many archives are already lost, except for those by a handful of photographers of that era. This work needs funding, which is very hard to come by. We also need to ask how these archives could be restored, cared for, and, more importantly, made accessible to the general public, academia and research. As of now, there are no answers.</p>.<p>One of my students, Muskan Chauhan, who interned with me on this project and worked on scanning negatives, retouching and curating a small exhibition, says, "Engaging with Dasappa's photographs brought a historical connection. I was captivated by the vivid narratives of Karnataka's socio-political history. Contributing to the restoration of a lost legacy brought privilege and joy.”</p>.<p>Dasappa's archive needs to reach a wider audience, perhaps a retrospective exhibition would be a fitting tribute.</p>
