অন্তর্বর্তী / Interim

On the occasion of celebrating 24 Years of Pathshala South Asian Media Institute, we cordially invite you to the opening of exhibition – ‘Interim’ curated by Pathshala Faculty Sarker Protick & Project Inertia at DrikPath Bhobon on 28 January 2023. Renowned artist Dhali Al-Mamoon and founder of Pathshala South Asian Media Institute Dr Shahidul Alam will inaugurate the exhibition.

“উইন্ডোজ এন্ড মিররস”, আলোকচিত্র দুনিয়ায় দেখবার ভঙ্গি; বিংশ শতাব্দীর মাঝামাঝি আমেরিকান আলোকচিত্রী, কিউরেটোর ও তাত্ত্বিক জন সারকায়োস্কি এই আলাপটি সামনে নিয়ে আসেন। এবং পরবর্তী সময় থেকে আলোকচিত্র চর্চায় এটি গুরুত্বপূর্ণ তত্ত্ব হিসেবে হাজির থাকে। বস্তুত আলোকচিত্রীর ছবি কখনো জানালা প্রতিরূপে নির্মিত হয়, আবার কখনো হয় আয়না স্বরুপ। জানালা দিয়ে বাইরের জগত দেখার মত করে ছবিটি অপরকে দেখায়; অনুরুপভাবে, আয়ানায় নিজেকে দেখার মতো, ছবির অন্তরালে বা সমান্তরালে আলোকচিত্রী তার মনস্তাত্ত্বিক জগতটাকে প্রতিফলিত করান। দুটি ভঙ্গিতেই উঠে আসে নানান ঘটনার সংকলন।

আমাদের জগত ক্রমাগত নানান ঘটনা বেষ্টিত। কিছু ঘটনা মানুষের তৈরি কিছু আবার প্রকৃতির সৃষ্টি। শতাব্দীর পর শতাব্দী মানুষ এসব ঘটনা সংরক্ষণ করে আসছে। একবিংশ শতাব্দীতে ঘটে যাওয়া বৈশ্বিক মহামারী কোভিড-১৯ বর্তমান সময়ের বিশেষ আলোচিত ঘটনা। অন্তরণের এই সময়ে মানুষ যখন রুদ্ধ, অনেক আলোকচিত্রী তখন সম্মুখে থেকে দৃশ্য ধারণ করেছেন আবার অনেক শিল্পী এই থমকে যাওয়া সময়ে নিজের ভাবনা কাজে লাগিয়েছেন, বিশ্লেষণ করেছেন বর্তমান পরিস্থিতি, খুঁজেছেন প্রকাশ পথ। আলোকচিত্রীদের এই সময়ের গল্পগুলো তাই যেন ‘উইন্ডোজ এবং মিররস’ এর জুতসই উদাহরণ । ‘অন্তর্বতী’ জন সারকায়োস্কির এই তত্ত্ব-কে একতাবদ্ধ করে। একটি অন্তর্বর্তী সময়ে দাঁড়িয়ে থেকে আলোকচিত্রীরা নিজেদের ব্যক্তিগত এবং সমষ্টিগত উপলব্ধিগুলোকে হাজির করেছেন। শিল্পীদের নির্মিত শব্দ মাধ্যম, ভাস্কর্য, ইলাস্ট্রেশন, কোলাজ, মুভিং ইমেজ এবং আলোকচিত্র মিলেমিশে বৈশ্বিক বিপর্যয়ের এই সময়কে চতুর্দিক থেকে প্রদক্ষিণ করতে চায়; আমরা প্রবেশ করি সময়ের একটি ক্ষুদ্র আধারে।

‘অন্তর্বর্তী’ আয়োজিত হচ্ছে পাঠশালার ২৪ বছর পূর্তি উপলক্ষে। আলোকচিত্র বিষয়ক এই স্কুলটি তার দীর্ঘ যাত্রায় অনেক ঘটনার সাক্ষী হয়েছে বহুবার। সেই সময়েরই একটি অংশ দুহাজার বিশ থেকে দুহাজার বাইশ। যখন দুয়ার পেরোনই মানা তখন আলোকচিত্রীরা ঘর বন্ধী থেকেই নির্মান করে গেছেন আপন শিল্পকর্ম, অনেকে বাইরে বেরিয়েছেন অকপটে আবার কেউ কেউ ক্যামেরা ব্যবহার না করে ভিন্ন ভিন্ন মাধ্যমে অস্থির সময়গুলোকে ধারন করেছেন তাদের কন্টাক্টশিটে। ‘অন্তর্বর্তী’–এমনই এক প্রদর্শনী যেখানে ‘সময়’ স্থান দিয়েছে সময়-কে।

Read more…

Do you see the clouds wrapping the sky

Screening, Rencontres d’Arles

BUBBLES – বুদবুদ

Exhibition at DIE DIELE, Switzerland

Chapakhana Archive Workshop Finale & Exhibition at Pathshala Institute

About the Workshop:
A nine-month-long research workshop ‘Chapakhana Archive’ began prior to the Chobi Mela ‘0’ festival in partnership with researcher and art historian, Mara Züst. The workshop focused on local printmaking, exploring material, practical, and technological involvement of individuals and social groups, among many other surfaces of engagement.

Mara Züst conducts research workshop at Chapakhana Archive Project

Through Chapakhana Archive Project, Mara Züst has collaborated with Pathshala South Asian Media Institute in a research project to document the local histories of print in Dhaka. The project also explores the technologies of print production in broad ways; looking at ideas around their deployment, function and impact, and historical indications of local engagement and characterization of print revolution in Dhaka, Chittagong and other places. Very little research existed on these subjects before this project, which took off just before Chobi Mela, the international festival of photography, one of the most significant photography events in Asia.

CPRESS BOOKS

Print out

Print out is one of the revealing outcomes of the collaborative (artistic) research project, Chapakhana Archive. Drawing on publications and exhibitions, the project documents the local history of print and production technologies in Dhaka, Chittagong and Bogra, exploring ideas surrounding technical and social deployment and their consequent societal effects. In this context, the project delves openly into different aspects of print, in theory and in practice, from artistic printmaking to film posters in mass circulation, to hand-designed letters in their multiplication in public space, to cheaply-produced, glitzy packaging for everyday goods. From there it expands to the history of cotton-printing, book-binding and maps … to forgotten languages and advanced modern technologies (used atypically). The Chapakhana Archive focuses on the local print-makers, publishers, entrepreneurs, and others, with the aim of exploring the material, practical, and technological involvement of individuals and social groups – among many other facets of engagement. This is all taking place in a context where print is still far from digital reproduction – with all its beauty and politics, with knowledge available which no longer exists in the West (as well as in most cities, including India). Furthermore, print in Dhaka, Chittagong and Bogra has not yet been widely researched, neither within the arts, nor within the humanities and social sciences.

Read more…

A Wide Open World

Exhibition, University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh

​

Scholarship winner Mushfiq Mahbub Turjo defines himself as an artist and image maker who likes to combine photography, collage and painting. After graduating with a Bachelor of Business Administration, Turjo attended a 3-year photography program at the Pathshala South Asian Media Institute in Dhaka, and then studied photography at the Danish School of Media and Journalism (DMJX) thanks to the 2019 Shahidul Alam Grant, a scholarship funded by the VII Academy. Eight months into this two-year program, Turjo shares with us some of his experience as a VII Academy scholar of the MA Photojournalism and Documentary Photography. The course is delivered entirely online predominantly through live web conferencing.

‘’It was Sarkar Protick, my teacher and mentor at Pathshala, who first introduced me to this scholarship opportunity at the University of London Arts. The application process was simple although quite time consuming. The key requirements were a portfolio of my work, a proposal for a project study, a motivation letter and a reference letter. The most complex and demanding part of the process was the study proposal: I had to provide the layout of the final project I’d propose to work on in the Masters program, if selected. This had to be an important project, which had to remain relevant two years from the moment I submitted my application. This study proposal did require a lot of research and motivation! I’ve been attending the Masters program for a semester now, and it has clearly taught me how to develop visuals through extensive research. I’ve also learnt to develop short-term journalistic projects, which were entirely new to me. One of the courses I’ve particularly liked this first semester is the Rethink course, for which we’ve had to re-work on our own projects with a completely fresh angle. I’ve also found the assignments given within the History course very helpful: we’ve had to research books, newspaper, articles, etc. on a topic of our choice, then discuss our research in class and finally develop our own article.

We have guests lectures every Wednesdays: these are very interesting because the artists often discuss their own personal journeys. I particularly enjoyed Max Pinckers, Sohrab Hura, and Chloe Dewe Mathews. In terms of team work, I just started attending the Collaborative Unit – I’ll tell you more in a couple of months! I am attending all courses online and my classmates and teachers keep me updated through email. They’ve all been very helpful and we stay connected through social media groups. Some of them have shown interest in visiting me in Bangladesh–I really hope we’ll make this happen or that I get a chance to visit them. I have been in lockdown at home for two months because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Luckily, this hasn’t impacted my studies too much as I’m currently working on a Rethink assignment which I can easily document from home. In the next semester program, I’m looking forward to learning how to develop a long-term project and how to reach an audience. I really love long-term projects and I know I’ll continue these even after graduating. I’m also happy to share with my students at Pathshala all the knowledge and experience I gather from LCC.”

”Last semester I polished and edited one of the main works I had been working on since 2017, called Mother Died and Time Passed (see the gallery below). Before joining the MA program I approached photography mostly through its practical side. The Photojournalism Practice course taught me the theoretical and research aspects of visual narratives, enabling me to see the gaps in my initial project, and identify the opportunity to add depth and layers.”

​

On top of following this demanding Masters curriculum, Turjo is also busy working as a teacher at Pathshala. See more of Turjo’s work and awards on his website. To be eligible for The William Gross and Jennifer Stengaard Gross Scholarship, you must be accepted on the MA Photojournalism and Documentary Photography (Part Time/ Online Mode) at the London College of Communication, UAL, starting in October 2020. Please see this webpage for full details and  this pdf on how to apply.

Read more…

BODH/INTELLECTION [ FELLOWSHIP ]

Etymologically, the word Bodh’ has multiple meanings. Despite its leaning towards ‘Intellection’, poet Jibanananda Das, characteristically, speaks of it more in the sense of inquiry. Sometimes he questions melancholia, sometimes death, or nothingness or earthly vastness, or sometimes, surreal fantasies that float past. Self-contradiction, an apparent void and a minimal touch of the magical is ‘Bodh’.
A re-reading of ‘Bodh’ with artists from varied disciplines comes together to form Chobi Mela[0] Fellowship Programme.

BODH
From Dhushor Paundulipi (Grey Manuscipt
By Jibanananda Das

Article on Covid Journey, Politiken Newspaper, Denmark

DHAKA, BANGLADESH
Mushfiq Mahbub Turjo

I was sharing my house with Iben and Emil, two Danish exchange students from DMJX at Pathshala. When the pandemic struck, they had to leave Dhaka. I was suddenly alone. On 26th march a lockdown was declared. Two of my cousins came to stay with me. Thousands of people left the capital by buses, train, truck and ferries with a high risk of contamination. We bought all our essentials and decided not to leave the house. We have limited our food consumption as we don’t know how long we have to sustain. There is a price hike everywhere, as people are trying to profit from this crisis.

​

Just by my window, in a mango tree there are nests of crows. The chaos and noise of the city usually supress their voices. My wife says that now they are crying out loudly and flying madly for food. The lockdown has affected the stray animals in the city, who used to depend upon the leftovers of the dwellers and restaurants. birds used to entertain us and we used to throw some food for them. We cannot provide them food anymore. Now, we shy away from looking outside to see how they are surviving.

Read more…

Nest

The magazine was published by the students of the Danish School of Media and Journalism. 

Magazine made by ten international photojournalist students at DMJX during a workshop in April 2019. The ten photojournalists are: Mushfiq Mahbub Turjo, Bangladesh Shirin Abedi, Germany/Iran Michelle Hanks, USA Guillaume Derclaye, Belgium Deepti Asthana, India Saara Tuominen, Finland Haris Begic, Holland/Bosnia Ellie Cherryhomes, USA Aurelie Demesse, Belgium Yehyun Kim, South Korea The teachers at the workshop have been: Mathilde Bech (photography) Gitte Luk (journalism) Lars Bai (layout)

Chobimela X [ FELLOWS ]

Dhaka, Bangladesh

Chobi Mela X is partly commissioning 13 Bangladeshi artists as Chobi Mela Fellows to produce site-specific artwork. To investigate the theme Place, artists from different backgrounds of painting, drawing, architecture, sculpture, photography, video, sound and installations will expand the possibilities of the medium and test the language of manifestations. These independent projects are nurtured with dialogues and guidance from the festival curators led by Zihan Karim and coordinated by Debashish Chakrabarty and Joe Paul Cyriac.
Through this initiative, Chobi Mela aims to support new media artists of Bangladesh to develop their independent projects entailing experimentation and expansion.

Read more…

New Era

an output of the Oslo Reportage Photography Workshop, Kunming, China.

“NEW ERA” (2018) is a book that contains 23 stories told by photographers from Bangladesh, Norway, China and Nepal. All of the work had been produced in China as an output of the Oslo Reportage Photography Workshop.

​“You Want To See,
I Will Show It

​It’s getting harder and harder to get a life partner. In China there is a tremendous pressure to get engaged at a young age. Parents and grandparents want successors- badly.

​For some girls this pressure gets so intense that they resort to renting fake boyfriends to get their family to stop badgering them. Parents of unwed children gather at marriage markets in hope of finding someone to secure the next generation.

​In this process people become products and feelings like desire and love become afterthoughts.”