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Posted on?February 2, 2011 by?Chulie de Silva in Chobi Mela VI blog Three cheers for Chobi Mela, Participants at the last day of evening presentations at Goethe Institue 27 January, 2011. Photograph ??Mahabub Alam Khan/DrikNews
Dhaka, Bangladesh. February 2, 2011: Chobi Mela VI ? International Festival of Photography draws to a close on a high note after a two weeks long showcasing of creative talent in 29 print and 31 digital exhibitions. The last day to catch the exhibitions will be 3 February 2011 and they will be at the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, Alliance Francaise de Dhaka, The Asiatic Gallery of Fine Arts, The British Council, Drik Gallery, The Goethe-Institut and the Lichutola at Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Dhaka. Pathshala students and international visitors at the start of the festival. Photograph ? K M Asad ?The overwhelming sense of Chobi Mela VI in Dhaka, Bangladesh, in Asia at the beginning of what has been described as the Asian Century is one of potential. Huge creative potential, the potential to change the narrative of the global community, recast its mythologies and restate its essence,? says visitor Chris Riley from U.S.A.. ?From Dhaka the stories must be different; they must be from a different perspective and in a different form. This is the Chobi Mela challenge: to emerge into the world and change it.? ?The success of this festival is because of you. The practitioners who have walked the walk, and the audience who have nurtured and supported this crazy dream. It is a dream we will dream together, and triumph we shall? Shahidul Alam. Photograph ? D M Shibly
Dhaka?s young band of photographers is more than ready to take up the challenge. There outlook is fresh and the creativity of their work is impressive. The euphoria, the excitement among the young and the veterans was palpable. The old hands were free with their advice but the young were not averse to arguing and holding on to their positions. A comment by Chris Riley sums up the festival aptly. ?The brilliance of Chobi Mela persistently emerges as a near contact sport between the past and the future, old and young.? Shahidul Alam moderates a panel discussion on ?Are There Other Ways of Seeing?? about the cultural implications of visual grammar with Laurence Leblanc French artist and Dick Doughty, Managing Editor, Saudi Aramco World, U.S.A. Photograph ??Mahabub Alam Khan/DrikNews
Dr. Shahidul Alam, Festival Director recalls how people were incredulous when Drik decided to set up its own festival of photography, which would showcase the work of Bangladeshi artist alongside the most exciting work from the rest of the world. Against all odds the Chobi Mela festival has gone from strength to strength. ?If impossibility is a criterion for success, then Chobi Mela has all the credentials,? says Alam. Shahidul Alam and Pedro Meyer in conversation with John G Morris, the picture editor of the New York Times during the Vietnam war who joined the evening presentations at Goethe Institut on 22 January 2011. Morris in 1971, is the edotor who first published Nick Ut's picture of the young girl with burn injuries running from a Napalm attack. Photograph ? Saikat Mojumder/DrikNews
To achieve this success Drik additionally used new technologies to include a global audience by live broadcast on Drik TV ( www.drik.tv) the inauguration at the National Theatre Auditorium, Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy and the evening presentations at Goethe Institut from 21-27 January.
Author: Shahidul Alam
Time Magazine Person of the Year 2018. A photographer, writer, curator and activist, Shahidul Alam obtained a PhD in chemistry before switching to photography. His seminal work “The Struggle for Democracy” contributed to the removal of General Ershad. Former president of the Bangladesh Photographic Society, Alam set up the Drik agency, Chobi Mela festival and Pathshala, South Asian Media Institute, considered one of the finest schools of photography in the world.
Shown in MOMA New York, Centre Georges Pompidou, Royal Albert Hall and Tate Modern, Alam has been guest curator of Whitechapel Gallery, Winterthur Gallery and Musee de Quai Branly. His awards include Mother Jones, Shilpakala Award and Lifetime Achievement Award at the Dali International Festival of Photography.
Speaker at Harvard, Stanford, UCLA, Oxford and Cambridge universities, TEDx, POPTech and National Geographic, Alam chaired the international jury of the prestigious World Press Photo contest. Honorary Fellow of Royal Photographic Society, Alam is visiting professor of Sunderland University in UK and advisory board member of National Geographic Society.
John Morris, the former picture editor of Life Magazine describes his book “My journey as a witness”, (listed in “Best Photo Books of 2011” by American Photo), as “The most important book ever written by a photographer.”
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