Generative Conservation /Reviving Old Prints Through Ai

At Unnisbis, we use a mix of AI tools and traditional image-making to bring old photographs back to life. We’ve been working closely with the archive of Akbar Padamsee, restoring prints that have survived only as worn, faded objects. Some are scratched, some are overexposed or sunk into heavy shadows, and the original negatives no longer exist.

Our process is slow and careful. AI helps us rebuild what time has erased, but every image is then shaped by hand, treated with the same sensitivity you’d give to a print in the darkroom. We also study the colour language of specific film stocks to keep the restored images true to the period they belong to.

The goal is simple: to refresh these works with honesty, without letting them slip into that generic, “AI-made” look. We want the images to feel real, faithful, and ready to live again in books, exhibitions, and archives.

Four men in suits standing together at an art gallery with landscape paintings in the background.
Four men in formal attire standing together at an art exhibition or gallery, with framed landscape photographs hanging on the wall behind them.
Black and white photo of three people, two men and one woman, engaged in a discussion while looking at a notebook. The woman is wearing a jacket and has short hair. The man in the middle is wearing glasses and a leather jacket, holding the notebook. The man on the right is wearing glasses, a patterned shirt, and a sweater vest, with striped pants.
Three people in conversation, two women and one man, with notebooks, black and white photo.
A man in a jacket and pants standing at a worktable, painting or working on a canvas in a studio. Behind him, there are several artworks, including a portrait of a man with a beard and an abstract piece with a pie chart and windmill, all in black and white.
A young man with dark, wavy hair, wearing a jacket, stands at a table looking at a clipboard or piece of paper. Behind him are two paintings—one of a woman with a geometric face and hand, and another of a bearded man with an abstract, elongated face.
A sheet of black and white film negatives featuring various images, including animal and human faces, laid out on a surface near a window with blinds.
A collection of old black-and-white photographs spread on a table, with a blurred laptop displaying a social media or messaging app in the background.
Close-up of a black and white photograph of a person wearing sunglasses on a book or magazine cover, with a blurred laptop showing a digital design on the screen in the background.
A computer screen displaying a digital network diagram with interconnected nodes and images of peoples, situated on a desk. A printed photograph of two men conversing, one with glasses, is in the foreground on a plastic sheet with handwritten notes.