The Slow Camera Exchange introduced to the public at Hollyhill and Cork City Library September 2023

The first Slow Camera Exchange exhibition took place at Holyhill Library, with a unique series of three mini-exhibitions. ‘Shared Memories’ featured a selection of images of residents of The Westgate Centre. Members of the FProject exhibited photographs taken with cameras from The Slow Camera Exchange collection. Completing the series was a collection of polaroid images taken by Hermann Marbe and his family. On Culture Night,The City Library displayed the camera collection, giving the opportunity for younger and older visitors to the library to get their hands on the cameras and explore the types of processes that are possible with analogue photography.

Sensitivity – it’s what immediately came to mind seeing Hermann Marbe’s photography. His collection is, quite literally, the photosensitive memory of things said and done; but more so, it is a demonstration of how returning to analogue mediums can ground us in the world, and the world of the subject it captures. It was a beautiful, loving, and warm experience to listen to the stories shared of each image and the transient and tender moment they embodied, and to see the contraptions Hermann collected used to cherish them. Access to analogue mediums can be challenging and expensive, but The Slow Camera Exchange’s mission of creating the first analogue camera library in Ireland will allow everyone to have the opportunity to explore analogue photography, and crucially, allow under-represented groups to undertake creative projects and share their often unseen, unheard, and unfelt experiences. The turn toward analogue mediums can help us challenge the abstraction of the human experience in an increasingly digital and fast-paced world; by slowing down, we may be able to exercise greater sensitivity to one another when the world needs it most, letting us learn more about ourselves, and each other.

-Richard Keyes McDonnell, visitor to event.