Dhaka Art Summit 2016 ends today

The four-day Dhaka Art Summit, one of the largest platforms for South Asian art, will be concluded today at Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy in the capital. During the four-day event a young rising artist named Rasel Chowdhury has been awarded with the ‘Samdani Art Award’. Among the 13 artists whose works are being displayed at this mega event, Rasel Chowdhury has been selected for his photography series titled ‘Railway Longings’.
Rasel Chowdhury is a Dhaka-based artist whose passion lies in documenting environmental issues using camera. Born in Jamalpur, photography was his passion from a very young age.  His body of work deals with unplanned desperate urbanization, the dying River Buriganga, the lost city of Sonargaon, the Mega City of Dhaka, and newly transformed spaces around Bangladesh railroads to explore the change of the environment, unplanned urban structures and new form of landscapes.
He spoke in details about the inspiration behind his theme and the story that was portrayed through his paintings.  The theme that he covered was the palpable change that can be seen while travelling from village to the town or vice versa. He expressed further, “The series of photographs shows a journey of how life changes from village to town. Once upon a time, the only  way to reach my birthplace of Jamalpur from Dhaka was by railroad . I walked from one station to another covering 181 km long journey along the railway to photograph the experience filled with nostalgia and also the change of landscapes and rail structures ranging from villages to towns.”  
Rasel Chowdhury mentioned his passion towards his work, “I started photography without a conscious plan, and eventually became addicted to it and decided to document spaces in and around Bangladesh. Then after I realized I was serious about it, I enrolled into Pathshala South Asian Media Institute in 2008 and obtained a degree in 2012.”
He also spoke about his other activities as a photographer, “I am involved with an art group name DAAGI ART Garage, which is a young artist group of seven members. My first group exhibition, titled ‘Weapons Can’t Kill’,  is currently being shown at Pathshala South Asian Media Institute.”
To note, over 50 international journalists were set in Dhaka covering the event and over 130,000 local visitors gathered the event. Renowned TV channel Bloomberg is making a 30-minute documentary focusing on this year’s summit.
This year, the Dhaka Art Summit was supported by over 80 institutions including Harvard University, Centre Pompidou France, Rockefeller Foundation, Norwegian ministry of foreign affairs, Swiss Arts Council and so on. l

 

Dhaka Art Summit 2016 ends today

The four-day Dhaka Art Summit, one of the largest platforms for South Asian art, will be concluded today at Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy in the capital. During the four-day event a young rising artist named Rasel Chowdhury has been awarded with the Samdani Art Award. Among the 13 artists whose works are being displayed at this mega event, Rasel Chowdhury has been selected for his photography series titled Railway Longings. Rasel Chowdhury is a Dhaka-based artist whose passion lies in documenting environmental issues using camera. Born in Jamalpur, photography was his passion from a very young age. His body of work deals with unplanned desperate urbanization, the dying River Buriganga, the lost city of Sonargaon, the Mega City of Dhaka, and newly transformed spaces around Bangladesh railroads to explore the change of the environment, unplanned urban structures and new form of landscapes. He spoke in details about the inspiration behind his theme and the story that was portrayed through his paintings. The theme that he covered was the palpable change that can be seen while travelling from village to the town or vice versa. He expressed further, The series of photographs shows a journey of how life changes from village to town. Once upon a time, the only way to reach my birthplace of Jamalpur from Dhaka was by railroad . I walked from one station to another covering 181 km long journey along the railway to photograph the experience filled with nostalgia and also the change of landscapes and rail structures ranging from villages to towns. Rasel Chowdhury mentioned his passion towards his work, I started photography without a conscious plan, and eventually became addicted to it and decided to document spaces in and around Bangladesh. Then after I realized I was serious about it, I enrolled into Pathshala South Asian Media Institute in 2008 and obtained a degree in 2012. He also spoke about his other activities as a photographer, I am involved with an art group name DAAGI ART Garage, which is a young artist group of seven members. My first group exhibition, titled Weapons Cant Kill, is currently being shown at Pathshala South Asian Media Institute. To note, over 50 international journalists were set in Dhaka covering the event and over 130,000 local visitors gathered the event. Renowned TV channel Bloomberg is making a 30-minute documentary focusing on this years summit. This year, the Dhaka Art Summit was supported by over 80 institutions including Harvard University, Centre Pompidou France, Rockefeller Foundation, Norwegian ministry of foreign affairs, Swiss Arts Council and so on. l