Largest Global Photo Exhibition

A Day In The World is ‘largest global photo exhibition’ BBC.

Wikstrom says: “Some of the most extraordinary images come from Bangladesh, people were really engaged and they have a strong tradition of photography.”

Asad BBC — The left hand picture by KM Asad from Bangladesh (Pathshala alumni) shows 45-year-old Rahela who works in a factory cleaning waste from the production of incense, despite suffering from asthma. The light-hearted shot on the right shows a makeshift light switch cover - but note the swastika carved into the Mona Lisa's forehead.

boy jumping from buffalo — A Day In The World is being billed by organisers as the largest global photography exhibition ever staged, shown on 85,000 digital displays in 22 countries. Among the exhibits will be Iranian photographer Mehran Hamrahi's shot of a young boy diving past a water buffalo.

Majority World on Corriere Immigrazione (Italian)

Majority world

Perch? ? importante che a raccontare i ?paesi impoveriti? siano i loro stessi figli.?Le foto (link)
Until the lions have their own storytellers, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunter, si legge in epigrafe a?My Journey as a Witness, il libro fotografico che raccoglie la storia artistica e fotogiornalistica di Shaihidul Alam. Fino a quando i leoni non avranno i loro cantastorie, i racconti di caccia celebreranno sempre il cacciatore. Shahidul Alam ? un artista eclettico del Bangladesh: ha sempre spaziato tra musica, scrittura e immagine tenendo l?impegno sociale come filo conduttore di tutto il suo lavoro. Ed ? stato lui, all?inizio degli anni ?90, a cominciare a usare l?espressione?Majority World?(la parte maggiore del mondo) in sostituzione alle ambigue e inaccurate?devoloping countries(paesi in via di sviluppo) o?third world?(terzo mondo).?Majority World?? anche il nome (link) di un?agenzia di fotogiornalismo (Alam ? tra i fondatori) che ha la sua sede centrale nel Regno Unito e che raccoglie i lavori di fotografi della maggior parte del mondo impegnati a raccontare i loro Paesi fuori dai clich? e dagli stereotipi troppo spesso presenti nella visione occidentale. Lo scorso luglio alla Guardian Gallery di Kings Place, a Londra, ? stata organizzata un?esposizione di alcuni tra gli scatti pi? belli di questi professionisti. Colin Hastings, cofondatore con Alam di?Majority World, sarebbe felice di fare viaggiare questa mostra per il mondo e di raccogliere le immagini in un catalogo. Riuscirci, come sempre, ? una questione di fondi e di sponsor. In attesa che qualcosa si muova, sperando in fondo di contribuire a questo movimento, abbiamo il privilegio e il piacere di proporvi alcune di queste immagini.
Stefania Ragusa

ARThinkSouthAsia Cultural Management Programme 2013-14

ARThinkSouthAsia invites applications for ARThinkSouthAsia Cultural Management Programme 2013-14
The ARThinkSouthAsia Fellowship is designed to help develop skills, knowledge, networks and experience of potential leaders in the cultural sector of South Asia, which include museums, the visual and performing arts and digital media. We believe that by supporting exceptional individuals to make a step-change in their skills and career potential, we can bring substantial benefit to the cultural field as a whole.
Fifteen fellows will be selected from across South Asia for the Fellowship, which includes a two week residential course in April 2013 led by experienced international and Indian tutors, a secondment/internship in Germany/UK over the fellowship year 2013-14, and a concluding seminar in March the following year.
Requirements for the application
1. Minimum graduate degree from a recognized university or equivalent professional qualifications and experience of at least 3 years, either in employment or freelance
2. Detailed CV
3. Submission of a proposed/ongoing project
4. Two letters of recommendation from relevant educational/professional sources
5. Completed application form
Please note that the fellowship is aimed towards south Asian residents only.
Deadline: 15th November, 2012
Send by e-mail or registered post to:
Fellowship Applications, ARThinkSouthAsia
c/o S-17, Khirkhee Extension
New Delhi – 110017
T: +919871467227
Application form and other details?

Luc Delahaye Awarded $106,000 Prix Pictet

From Photo District News
?Ambush, Ramadi, 22 July 2006,? by Luc Delahaye.

French photojournalist-turned-artist Luc Delahaye has won the fourth Prix Pictet, the organization announced in a ceremony this evening at the Saatchi Gallery in London. The theme of this year?s prize was ?Power.?
Founded by Swiss private bank Pictet & Cie in 2008, the Prix Pictet is awarded to photographers whose work engages with themes of sustainability.
180 experts from around the world nominated 673 artists for the prize. From those the jury selected 12 shortlisted artists, all of whom will be included in an exhibition opening tomorrow, October 10, at the Saatchi Gallery in London. The exhibition will also tour internationally.
Delahaye submitted a portfolio titled ?Various works: 2008-2011,? about which he wrote in his artist?s statement:
?I try to put myself in situations that I feel have a certain relevance regarding what we call a shared destiny. The reality I?m interested in is that of people who struggle to act upon it as much as they are subject to it. I sometimes work where power presents itself as a spectacle, as an event produced for or with the media, and my pictures may then take an ironic undertone. But I photograph the ordinary man more often than the leader. I usually stay at the distance where the human relationships are visible, multiple, active and where they remain problematic. I?m interested in narration and in photography?s phenomenological hold on the real.?
Among the other shortlisted photographers were Robert Adams, Rena Effendi, An-My L?, who just received a MacArthur Genius Fellowship, and Joel Sternfeld.
Pictet & Cie, the company that founded the prize, also awarded a commission to nominated photographer Simon Norfolk to travel to and photograph a region where the Bank is supporting a sustainability project.
Previous Prix Pictet winners include Mitch Epstein, Nadav Kander and Benoit Aquin.
Related: Prix Pictet Announces 12 Photographers Shortlisted for Prize

Rafiq Azam Wins Residential Building of the Year Award

Residential Building of the Year Award, S.A Residence, Bangladesh

As a young emerging graduate Rafiq Azam had designed the Drik Gallery in 1993. He then designed the Pathshala Faculty Residence and is also the architect for the planned Drik/Pathshala building in Panthapath. Rafiq, Drik and Pathshala have all gone on to win international acclaim. The recent Emirates Glass Leaf Award, won by Rafiq Azam is the latest in a string of awards won by this talented Bangladeshi.

Drik terrace — Drik Terrace. ? Shahidul Alam/Drik/Majority World

Dhaka-based Rafiq Azam of Shatotto received the ?Residential Building of the Year Award? (multiple occupancy), for SA Residence project, at the 2012 Emirates Glass LEAF Awards, which took place during this year?s London Design Festival. Continue reading

Imagining our future together

We Protest

?Into Exile ? Tibet 1949 ? 2009,? an exhibition organised by the Bangladeshi chapter of Students for a Free Tibet, in partnership with Drik, was symbolically opened by Professor Muzaffer Ahmed, former chairman of Transparency International?Bangladesh, on 1 November 2009. Despite pressure on Drik to cancel the exhibition, first by officials of the Chinese embassy in Dhaka, and later by Bangladesh government officials, special branch, police, and members of parliament, the opening took place outside, on the street, as Drik’s premises had been locked up by the police. The police had insisted that we needed official permission to hold the exhibition but were unable to produce any written document to that effect.

Police insisted on entering the private premises of Drik even after they were unable to produce any documentation to show they were authorised to do so. A day after blocking the entrance to the gallery to prevent an exhibition on Tibet from taking place, police said they had orders from the Home Ministry to guard the place for seven days. Dhaka, Bangladesh. November 2, 2009. ? Shehab Uddin/DrikNews/Majority World

We went ahead with the opening as it is part of Drik’s struggle for the freedom of cultural expression. We are particularly affronted at being asked by officials of a foreign state, to cancel the exhibition. We strongly believe that governments should have the courage to present their views at cultural platforms and to try and convince people by arguing their case, in other words, acting democratically, rather than using intimidation and heavy-handed tactics.

Shahidul Alam insisting that police leave the premises of Drik and not intimidate visitors to the gallery. Police positioned themselves outside the gate leaving some of their riot gear prominently displayed inside. Upon further resistance the riot gear was removed. 2nd November 2009. Dhaka. Bangladesh. ? Saikat Mojumder/DrikNews/Majority World

The forced closure of Drik affects many people, which includes members of the public, clients and those working at Drik. Public interest is our concern. We also want to continue working as an internationally acclaimed media organisation with both national and international commitments. Hence, having registered our indignance, at the actions of the Bangladesh government, and those of Chinese embassy officials we will be closing the exhibition 2 November 2009.
We express our thanks to members of the public and the media, for being present at the street opening, for demonstrating their deep disgust at governmental interference, and at their show of solidarity.

Stop Press: Police have been evicted from Drik and have positioned themselves outside the gate.

When The Mind Says Yes

It was in the foothills of the Himalayas that he was born. In a bullock cart amidst a snowstorm. It was in the cold chill of January, in the severest winter in Bangladesh’s memory, that he died. Alone and uncared for, the frail old man shrunken with age, but with a heart as wide as the ocean, and a mind as young as the children that he loved, Golam Kasem, nicknamed Daddy, died at the tender age of 104. The single storied yellow building at 73 Indira Road, with its unkempt garden, was home not only to Bangladesh’s oldest photographer, but also the first Bengali Muslim short story writer.

Daddy looking out of his window at 73, Indira Road. Dhaka. Shahidul Alam/Drik/Majority World

Born on the 5th November 1894, Daddy lost his mother shortly after birth. Brought up by his aunt, the young man took up photography the way many young men take up many things, to impress a young girl. She had promised to cook for him if he could develop a film that others had failed with. Kasem embarked with the same trait for disciplined research, that he maintained till his death. He went round the studios of Mednapur to find out the method that would win him his meal. He never talked of what the meal was like, but did describe how he used a hardner to prevent the emulsion from peeling off. Saving his bus fare to school to buy a brownie camera, he began taking photographs of the things he loved most, animals, flowers and children. And importantly, he preserved those negatives. In his archives, amidst old paper sachets marked in his neat handwriting are glass plates dating back to 1918. The harbour in Calcutta, early steam engines, the Gurkha regiment in shorts, and many many portraits. Period pieces lit in that soft natural light that early studios used.

Ship at port. 1925. ? Golam Kasem/Drik/Majority World

Steam engine. B2 glass negative. Date unknown. Golam Kasem — Steam engine. B2 glass negative. Date unknown. ? Golam Kasem/Drik/Majority World

Grainless negatives of people, generally in studied poses. His spontaneous pictures were those of animals and children, and amongst them are some gems. “Her first dance” is a delicate photograph of a child amidst a twirl, centre stage with her family as an audience. Strong portraits of his friend a teacher and the calm portrait of his grandmother belie the fact that he was an amateur, who took photographs for fun. He sold his first photograph at the age of 98, for Drik’s 1991 calendar.

First picture sold by Daddy. Intro for Drik 1991 calendar. Golam Kasem. 35mm negative. Date unknown. — First picture sold by Daddy. Intro for Drik 1991 calendar. 35mm negative. Date unknown. ? Golam Kasem/Drik/Majority World.

Boat. 120 negative. Date unknown. Golam Kasem. — Boat. 120 negative. Date unknown. ? Golam Kasem/Drik/Majority World

The founder of the Camera Recreation Club, Daddy arranged regular meetings at his house in Indira Road where the club was housed. Regular visitors included poet Sufia Kamal, painter Qamrul Hassan and photographer Manzoor Alam Beg. His letters were hand-written, each one numbered, and the envelopes often made of recycled newspapers or book wrappings. Competitions at the Camera Recreation Club were unusual events. Photographers who would abstain from many local competitions would submit those small 4″ x 5″ prints. And they were proud of the simple prizes they sometimes won. The prize giving was always accompanied by a cultural programme. And Daddy would always sing.

A house wife. 1927. B2 Glass negative. Golam Kasem — A house wife. 1927. B2 Glass negative. ? Golam Kasem/Drik/Majority World

My colleague. Dhaka 1935. B2 glass negative. Golam Kasem — My colleague. Dhaka 1935. B2 glass negative. ? Golam Kasem/Drik/Majority World

The room next to his bedroom was his darkroom. A red plastic bowl stuck under a light bulb, his safe light. He mixed his own chemicals from old tins of chemicals. Often I would get a SOS. The same neat handwriting, asking for potassium ferricyanide or some other chemical that he needed for his latest experiment. Photography was his passion. Once at a meeting at the Bangladesh Photographic Society (BPS), where he had been presented a new camera, Daddy spoke of how the camera he had been given would be much more than a machine to him. He talked of how he kept his camera next to his pillow when he went to sleep. How, when he was sad, he would speak to it, and that it would talk back and comfort him. Unimpressed by the modern motor driven models, his preference was for a simple manual SLR, “preferably not too heavy” he would add with a mischievous smile. That is not to say he was shy of technology. I remember him holding up his thick glasses to read his first Email from his grandson in Canada. He asked me to come back the next day, and as I parked my bicycle by his rose garden, he was ready with his answer, again written in his neat handwriting. He was fascinated by Email and used it regularly, and curious about how the message would get through the ether.

My grandmother. Dhaka 1935. Golam Kasem. — My grandmother. Dhaka 1935. Golam Kasem/Drik/Majority World

Sky and water. 1923, Midnapore. 4 x 5 sheet film. Golam Kasem — Sky and water. 1923, Midnapore. 4 x 5 sheet film. ? Golam Kasem/Drik/Majority World

He was fiercely independent. He cooked his own meals, fed his dog and his cats and did his own shopping. Until recently, he would even go on his own to a house down the road and guide himself up the stairs to meet a lady friend whom he occasionally visited. Rarely would he talk of himself and it was only in passing conversation with the late Mr Nasiruddin that I discovered that Daddy was the first Bengali Muslim short story writer. He used to write regularly for Shawgat, and continued to write, both technical articles on photography for the BPS newsletter, and short stories for general publication. His last manuscript, a simple manual on photography, sadly lies in my hands, unpublished. He had dearly wanted it printed before he died. The proofing was complete, the photographs selected, but ‘matters of consequence’ allowed other projects to take precedence. His last note, urging me on with the publication, will forever haunt me.

Two girls. Midnapore 1926. B2 glass negative. Golam Kasem — Two girls. Midnapore 1926. B2 glass negative. ? Golam Kasem/Drik/Majority World

Always articulate, on his 100th birthday, at the opening of a joint photographic exhibition by him and the other photographic guru Manzoor Alam Beg at the Drik Gallery, he talked eloquently of how photography was the way for people of the world to make friends, to break barriers, to discover one another. Later as the chief guest at the opening of the 1996 World Press Photo, he talked of his own struggle to overcome the limitations of an ageing body. “My body says no, but my mind says you must, and in the end it is the mind that wins.” On Friday the 9th January 1998, the body finally said no and the mind took wings.
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