Shaina Suri

Seeing Blind

Class of: 2023

Major: Communication Design BFA

Medium: 35mm Photography

Faculty: Jill Enfield

Prompt: This project was created in the first half of the semester when we were learning about the technical elements of analog photography and darkroom printing. It was shot as a part of the aperture and shutter speed exercises.

As artists and designers in today’s climate, our surroundings are saturated with pop-culture, visual media, and its trends. We tend to forget and ignore creative practices of the past along with their value. In addition, the current climate also provides a sensory overload, which causes us to find ourselves trudging on blindly through the world. This photo series explores an unconventional amalgamation of the past and present, displaying their tethered relationship and the contrast between the attitudes of today, set against the backdrop of a far yesterday. This series tries to bring awareness to the way the present has almost made us blind to the past. Shot at the Met Cloisters, a famous site with medieval European architecture, the subjects are dressed in modern clothing, contrasting with the aesthetic of the site and rejecting its presence with their eyes closed.

As aforementioned, this series is trying to bring awareness to the way the present has almost made us blind to the past. This reflects the concept of ‘old meets new’ in multiple facets, from its artistic presentation and its conceptual message. Shot at the Met Cloisters, a famous site with medieval European architecture, the subjects are dressed in modern clothing, contrasting with the aesthetic of the site and rejecting its presence with their eyes closed. In addition, the series was shot on a 35mm film camera, developed, and printed in the darkroom using chemicals and light-sensitive paper. Therefore, the piece combines an old photography practice with a new and modern concept.