‘Chobi Mela Shunno’ concludes today
PHOTO COURTESY: CHOBI MELA SHUNNO Arts & Entertainment Desk Arts & Entertainment Desk
Asia s most celebrated photography festival, Chobi Mela, concludes today. Exhibitions at the festival will run from 11 am till 8 pm. The ten-day event started on February 12, 2021.
This year, Chobi Mela has a special edition, Shunno . The festival is jointly organised by Pathshala South Asian Media Institute and Drik Pictures Library at the DrikPath Bhobon. Chobi Mela Shunno features eight projects by 75 artistes from home and abroad, including Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Srilanka. Some of the notable works displayed at the festival are in memory of eminent architect Bashirul Haq and the first female photographer of Bangladesh Sayeeda Khanum. This year, Chobi Mela paid a special tribute to their groundbreaking works.
21st February, 2021 11:55:42
Chobi Mela, the largest photography festival of Asia concluded on Sunday. The ten-day event started on February 12. This year Chobi Mela mounts a special edition, ‘Shunno (0)’.
Pathshala South Asian Media Institute and Drik Pictures Library jointly organised the festival at the DrikPath Bhobon in the capital.
Chobi Mela ‘Shunno (0)’ featured eight projects of 75 artists of different countries, including, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Srilanka. Some of the notable works were displayed at the festival in memory of eminent architect Bashirul Haq and the first female photographer of Bangladesh Sayeeda Khanum. This year, Chobi Mela paid a special tribute to their groundbreaking works.
"Chobi Mela Shunno", held from February 12 to 21 in DrikPath Bhobon at Panthapath, introduces a fresh perspective on different art forms to spectators and art lovers. Tanzim Wahab, the Chief Curator at Bengal Foundation and lecturer at Pathshala South Asian Media Institute, is the Festival Director of this year's "Chobi Mela". He was previously a curator of the festival at the
Sayeeda Khanum’s exhibition in Chobi Mela O.
The Drik-Path building peeks into the sky in the middle of the busy commercial area of Panthapath, Dhaka. This is where Chobi Mela Shunno (0) is taking place this year. We are all too familiar with this biennale international photography festival that takes place in various venues sprawling across Dhaka. This time around, it is restricted to the walls of the newly built Drik-Path building. We have done 10 editions of Chobi Mela spanning the past two decades. But we are not doing the 11
th edition. Instead, we are doing a special edition of Chobi Mela which properly responds to the situation of the world at present, explains Tanzim Wahab, Festival Director and curator, Chobi Mela (0). The reason behind this conceptualisation was to go back and start anew; which is what the rest of the world is doing by adjusting with the new normal. The word Shunno in Bangla means starting from the beginning. In order to start from the beginning
‘Chobi Mela Shunno’ kicks off
Shahidul Alam (4-L), along with other guests, at the opening day. PHOTO: SHEIKH MEHEDI MORSHED Arts & Entertainment Desk Arts & Entertainment Desk
Organised by Drik Picture Library Ltd and Pathshala South Asian Media Institute, the 2021 edition of Chobi Mela , begins today. Titled Chobi Mela Shunno , the festival started with an inaugural rally at DrikPath Bhobon in the afternoon. At the end of the rally, celebrated photographer Shahidul Alam, along with other curators inaugurated the festival with an introductory discussion on the exhibitions. As a Bangladeshi, I feel proud that in the field of photography, we are the pioneers and the rest of the world follows us, shares Shahidul Alam, Founder, Chobi Mela. When a group of people start working on something new, others are inspired to do the same.