Slices of Life: 7th Int'l Inter University Photography Exhibition

(Clockwise from left): winning photos from 'Life' (Shipbreaking), 'Action' & 'Landscape' categories

A day-labourer works at a shipbreaking yard: a subject that has become quite frequent in contemporary Bangladeshi photography. Like many of his contemporaries, Asif Adnan of North South University has chosen to work on this subject, producing an attention-grabbing image nevertheless of a moment in a labourer's life at a shipbreaking yard in Chittagong.

Adnan's photographic effort won his the second prize in the category 'Life' at the ongoing 7th International Inter University Photography Exhibition (IIUPE). Organised by North South University Photographic Society (NSUPC), the exhibition is on at Drik Gallery, Dhanmondi, Dhaka.

The exhibition was opened by Pro Vice-Chancellor of North South University Dr. S.A.M Khairul Bashar on July 8. Noted media personality and photo enthusiast Aly Zaker was present as special guest at the event.

IIUPE started in 2003 with the participation of 2 international and 9 local universities. Since inception, the exhibition and competition have been playing a major role to create a platform for budding photographers. This year, 152 photographers' works representing 46 universities (28 local and 18 international) from 15 countries have been selected for the exhibition by the jury.

The participating countries are: Australia, Bangladesh China, Egypt, France, India, Indonesia, Republic of Korea, Nepal, Panama, Poland, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Turkey and United Kingdom.

Among the photographs, 239 single entries and 8 photo stories have competed for 37 awards under different categories. The Drik exhibition is the first phase of the annual event that will continue till July 14. It features 8 photo stories and award winning photographs.

The organisers categorised the entries as colour and black and white media, which were further classified into 8 sub-categories: action, portrait, life, architecture, nature, still life, landscape and photo story.

While Adnan chose to portray hardship, other photos depict diverse subjects from different viewpoints.

The collection on display includes landscapes of Bangladesh, including serene moments at the beach, images of architectural brilliance in the concrete jungle and depiction of human emotions through symbols.

The photo stories further enrich the display. Among the stories, “Moods of Old Dhaka” by Tamim Jamshed of Pathshala bagged the first prize. The story -- consisting of five photos -- articulates incidents in the old Dhaka area. “The Captive Lady” is another story that symbolically represents the encaged existence of a girl [or woman] in our society. “Ma” [mother] won the second prize and “A House Servant” won the honourable mention award.

Not many photographs by participants from overseas are featured at the exhibition. Among them, Hassane Chami of Universite Montpellier, France is a lucky one who won first prize in the category 'Action'. Chami's innovative framing of a moving person, whose form almost looks like a blur, stands out at the exhibition.

The second phase of the exhibition will be held at the National Art Gallery, Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, on July 15 to 22. The award giving ceremony will be held on the first day of the second phase at Shilpakala Academy.

The exhibition is open to all.

Source: The Daily Star. By Jamil Mahmud. 13 July 2011

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