Photo Feature

The World Comes to Dhaka

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words, and nowhere is this aphorism so faithfully reflected than at the annual Chobi Mela, where every year the organisers bring together a spectacular array of the best exhibitions from around the world together with work-shops, lectures, slide-shows, and films, for a month-long photography and visual arts extravaganza.

It is that time of the year again, and this year the Chobi Mela has broken new ground in terms of innovation to bring an unprecedented collection to our shores from every corner of the globe. The month-long festival which opens at the end of this month includes the very best of our domestic talent side by side with some of the most exciting, most inventive, and most reputed names from the rest of the world.

In this issue of Forum, we feature seven of the exhibitions whose works will grace the Chobi Mela, to give our readers a taste of the richness and variety of the works that will be on display. We invite our readers to take a trip through the following pages and feast their eyes on these provocative and thought-provoking images from all over the world.

Each image captures something essential, and we hope that the stories that they tell will remain with those who view them for a long time to come. From Nepal to Mexico to South Africa to China
– and every spot in between -- the featured exhibitions tell a story and shine a spot-light that illuminates our understanding so that we can travel to far-flung locales and learn about the heart-breaks and hardships, the simple pleasures and struggles of different cultures and peoples everywhere in the world.

All this is coming to Dhaka -- the world and everything in it -- and we hope that our photo feature allows you all to take a small piece of the world home with you, to have and to hold, to seek inspiration from, and to see life in a new light.

Click here for the Photo Feature