Musings by Shahidul Alam
Chobi Mela, a biennale photography festival held in Dhaka, Bangladesh just completed its 7th edition in January 2013. Chobi Mela (literally, photo fair), started in 1999, is Asia?s largest photo festival. This year the theme was Fragility. Continue reading “Reflections on Chobi Mela VII”
Pablo Bartholomew (India) in conversation with Munem Wasif and Shahidul Alam Continue reading “Chobi Mela talks”
A project of the Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations (ifa, Germany) in cooperation with Universes in Universe
Chobi Mela VII
International Festival of Photography, Bangladesh, 2013
February 2013Since its inception in 2000, Chobi Mela International Festival of Photography has aimed at exploring the semiotics of present-day photographic practice in a broad international context, to bring about an understanding of the medium both within the industry and amongst the public at large. Continue reading “Chobi Mela VII on Nafas”
We would wish to thank all the exhibiting artists, event participants, workshop conductors, sponsors and everyone else who helped make this festival a success.
Sparks of Chobi Mela VII will linger on over the next couple of weeks ? with certain workshops only having begun and the touring exhibitions still to be dispatched ? but hopefully the Chobi Mela fire and passion for photography will sustain us until the next edition of the festival in 2015.
Over the past weeks we?ve come to understand that fragility need not be a weakness but can be a source of strength and that there is kindness not only in listening to other people?s opinions but great hope in empowering their stories. Now we just need to build on that.
Barbara AKA Shift
Photo by Drik/Majority World
With the end of the festival my time in Bangladesh is slowly running its course? So, good bye for now and see you back in Dhaka for Chobi Mela VIII.
Let?s see if we can get 2 Rolls Royce for the opening rally in 2015.
Visit the Chobi Mela Blog
From portraits of the men and women who made Bangladesh, to a poem to The Buriganga. From an intimate examination of the bond between two sisters and a rare skin disorder to the documentation of Chinese pollution. From Mexican magical realism to Iranian reality and the brutality of war. From students to mentors and beyond. The picture editors from Time, Geo andThe Guardian meet the Majority World as it finds both voice and vision. In among the teeming Dhaka Chobi Mela?s white background posters seem to be beacons of a new world: less depressed, less angry and newly empowered to write not only Bangladesh?s future but our own.
Ruth Eichhorn from GEO magazines
Photo by Chris Riley
Last time I was here I loved the student show and this year was no different. Tutored, mentored and cajoled by Morten Krogvold a group of 25 students documented Dhaka?s human side and created a show in four days, including the shoots and the printed catalogue. Rather than descend into the depression of all of Dhaka?s problems the students plundered its substructures to elevate the fine and the fun. Idiosyncratic, profound and often simply cool, the show was a triumph of story-telling with a twist: stories told by young men and women about the goodness of the human spirit and its capacity to prevail. This work was not full of parental anger, it was full of a child?s delight. I loved it.
The 3rd February ?saw the opening ceremony of the last exhibition at Chobi Meal VII. The festival intends to bring together veteran and budding photographers ? and what better way to do so than to hold workshops. During?Morten Krogvold?s workshop?titled??Opportunity Knocks?, the Norwegian photographer sent out the participants to find new ways of looking at their surroundings and the city of Dhaka.
Morten Krogvold at the opening ceremony Photo by Adnan Wahid/Drik/Majority World
Norwegian Ambassador Ragne Birte Lund during the opening ceremony Photo by Adnan Wahid/Drik/Majority World
The exhibition ?Students Work? will be on view at the?Asiatic Gallery of Fine Arts?(5, Old Secretariat Road) until 9 February.
by Pablo Bartholomew
More photos at Le Journal De La Photographie
Pablo Bartholomew ? Shahidul Alam/Drik/Majority World
? Shahidul Alam/Drik/Majority World
Complete article with more photographs at Le Journal De La Photographie
Chobi Mela VII Preparation ? Ranak Martin
Festival Director Shahidul Alam talks about the challenges and expectations one faces when running a festival such as Chobi Mela and points out the festival?s uniqueness and beauty.
There?s only few days left before the beginning of Chobi Mela VII and there are still a thousand things to be done and we are awaiting many guests from all over the world. So tell me, how is this Chobi Mela different from previous editions of the festival? What is special this time round?
S. Alam : ?Firstly, it?s actually an extension of previous ones, What we?ve always done in Chobi Mela is to ensure that it?s a very inclusive festival, there are people from all the continents, there is a very diverse range of work in terms of photographic practices, but also in terms of the ideas behind it. Of course we have some artists who are here for very first time, I mean Graciela Iturbide will be here for the first time, Max Pam will be here for the first time, we are not sure yet if Eugene Richards is able to make it, they have very tight schedules but their work is already here. So yes! Very exciting work. Continue reading “Munem Wasif interviews Shahidul Alam on Chobi Mela VII”