The most celebrated photography festival of Asia is under way and the multi-venue photo festival yesterday held gallery visits to its exhibits in the old town.
Three very traditional locations in Old Dhaka were transformed into galleries for the photo festival.
The quaint Beauty Boarding, the colonial architecture of Northbrook Hall and the charming Bulbul Lalitakala Academy housed the day’s photo exhibits.
Indian photographer Mahesh Shantaram’s “Matrimania” and Turkish photographer Yusuf Sevincli’s “Clairvoyance” photo stories are being exhibited at Beauty Boarding for this year’s Chobi Mela.
Denis Deilleux’s “Egypt” is at the Bulbul Academy of Fine Arts.
Luis Gonzalez Palma’s “The Annunciation” and Nepal Picture Library’s “Retelling Histories” are on display at Northbrook Hall.
Munem Wasif, one of the curators of Chobi Mela VIII, spoke about the venues at Old Dhaka: “There are places like Northbrook Hall that needed to be completely worked on from scratch for the exhibitions. We had to think about the lighting there, the structures, and completely re-imagine the venue. But this also gave us a lot of scope for trying out new things.”
As an example of how important it is for the venue and the work to have synergy, he talked about placing Mahesh Shantaram’s work, “Matrimania” in Beauty Boarding, one of the oldest hotels in Dhaka:
“Placing ‘Matrimania’ in Old Dhaka is like juxtaposing the makings and workings of Indian weddings and Old Dhakaiya weddings next to each other, as both cultures are known to be extremely extravagant and lavish about their weddings. This gives the local crowd of Old Dhaka context when they walk into Beauty Boarding to see the show, and it can possibly make them think about things as well.”
