Popular and gifted documentary photographer Munem Wasif’s solo exhibition Belonging is going on at Galerie Clémentine de la Féronnière in Paris and will continue till November 17. His exhibition is a display of his works that captures his intake on the reality that lies behind the facade of normalcy he experiences in his surroundings.
Munem describes his understanding and philosophy behind his works as: “My own childhood years in Comilla, a small town mostly surrounded by countryside and steeped in customs and traditional lifestyles, had made me not just appreciate but feel at home with relations which grew over time and bordered on traditions more than trends. But through the frames, my Old Dhaka started to divulge unseen lives and throw back at me more agonizing questions of assimilation, and even worse, deletion.
As I started to look, the world that seemed just ordinary and domestic began to unravel into an intricate web of ages-old wisdom and tradition. Festivals such as Holi celebrated with all its grandeur at Shankhari Bazar, which had seemed nothing more than fun, just throwing colours at one another, revealed bonds of belonging, spiritual continuity and rejuvenation. It ceased to be a mere Hindu festivity, but more a celebration in the joy of being. Old, regal structures that had seemed liked edifices were now symbols of ‘living art.’”
Graduating in photography from Pathshala was a life changing experience, making him aware of his stories, giving him a photographic voice to take pictures of the dying industries and the afflicted jute and tea workers, excluded people and lands disturbed by environmental changes and salination, a nostalgic city of love, Old Dhaka.
Wasif prefers to photograph people he knows, therefore his country Bangladesh, to start from the inside of a story. He never finds it a problem to be treated as a storyteller in the humanist tradition, classical in photographic approach, as long as it shows compassion and his emotional experience of the people he photographs.
Wasif won City of Perpignan Young Reporter Award in 2008 at Visa pour l’image. In 2009 he was commissioned by Prix Pictet, and he received the F25 award for concerned photography from Fabrica in 2008 and took part in the Joop Swart Masterclass in 2007. Since 2008, Agence Vu in Paris have represented him. He was one of the curators of Chobimela VII, International Festival of Photography. Currently he teaches documentary photography in Pathshala, South Asian Media Institute.
