36 of my photographs displayed at «In Search of Beautiful Impressions» an exhibition at Bengal Gallery from 2nd to 4th June 2008 - of prints from the Printmaking Workshop which was held at the Institute of Fine Arts Dhaka University from 18th to 24th May 2008. The facade of the Gallery is an enormous wood-carved piece of art which makes me stop and look at it every time I visit. The exhibition was great and there were so many fantastic pieces of art that I liked - I bought [just!] 4 of the many prints that I liked. Rokeya was at the gallery this evening, doing an interview for the gallery and probably one for a TV channel. I missed the slide-show and documentary film though, as it was getting late and I had to be elsewhere by 7. Subir Choudhury, the Director of the gallery, promised to send me a copy on a disk .

Artist friend Rokeya Sultana [she is a Professor at the Institute of Fine Arts as well] asked me to photograph the 7 day Printmaking Workshop proceedings at the Institute of Fine Arts Dhaka University  organized by The Bengal Foundation during 18th to 24th May 2008.  Visiting Professors Nirmalendu Das and Pinaki Barua of Vishwa Bharati headed the the Zinc-plate Etching and Lithography workshop.  Final prints from the artists who participated will be on display during a 2 day exhibition [«In Search Of Beautiful Impressions«] at the Bengal Gallery of Fine Arts on 3rd and 4th June 2008 - the inaugural ceremony will be held on 2nd June evening.  Photographing the artists at work was very interesting for me, and I sort of got a bit side-tracked and photographed more «faces» than I did of the actual processes! After going through the entire lot of photos, there were enough images to present a series of a dozen each for the Etching and Litho processes. Lucky! Some of these photos will also be on display at the exhibition as a sort of «introduction to printmaking» : 

I've never before displayed any photographs at an exhibition or to the public, so this is an exciting experience - though mixed with some apprehension as well! Previous related posts at my blog are here, here and here. A must-read is Ujwala's blog on her participation and experience.

At the Print-making Workshop - Insitute of Fine Arts, Dhaka Univ
A few assorted images ...

   
   
  
  
Click the thuumbnails for a full photo.

And it rained, a sudden storm that brought the temperature down. Every one went out into the outdoor corridors to enjoy the rain and cool breeze..and roasted peanuts [with spicy hot & salty 'masala'] in little newspaper packets that Ujwala bought from a vendor.

Here is a pulled-shot of a wall, an Ixora bush and the rain - just for fun! And another.

May 18th 2008.
A day spent [blissfully] watching [and photographing] Master print-makers conduct a workshop at the Institute of Fine Arts at Dhaka University on Sunday May 18th, by kind invitation of Rokaya Sultana. The workshop will continue through May 22nd 24th. Other artists will join in, and the final prints from the Masters and Students will be presented in an informal exhibition on the 22nd at the Bengal Gallery on 1st and 2nd June. I hope to be able to attend for a while today, and again on the 22nd. Images and write-up follows asap....  Assorted images [in no particular order] of some of the attendees and famous artists from Bangladesh and India. Acclaimed Bangladeshi painters Abdus Shakoor Shah [Director of the Institute], Rafiqul Nabi, Mahmudul Haque and also Monirul Islam who lives in Spain, Master print-makers from Shantiniketan: Nirmalendu Das and Pinaki Barua  are here as well.
Click the thumbnails for a full photo view.

«A Month 6 Artists and a Book»
SoFoBoMo completed today. Its done!

The intent was to photograph 6 artists [Saidul Haque Juise, Fareha Zeba, Smita Srivastava, Ujwala Prabhu, Rokeya Sultana,  Jamal Ahmed] at work, with the least amount of «set-up». Some people are less conscious of the camera than others, so I had to use a different approach for each. I tried to capture the persona and essence of the personality rather than make pretty photos. I hope that I was able to convey this and some of the intimacy that develops between photographer and «photographee!».

The finishing touches to the text assisted by Jyoti today. Many thanks! Thanks to both Jyoti and Ujwala who supported me from day-one, gave suggestions and assisted in the design. Ujwala, sorry for making your mailbox overflow with those 100's [or was it 1000's?] of emails! 

1. A downloadable PDF [around 18MB] is online → SoFoBoMo - «A Month 6 Artists and a Book» [It might be quicker to right-click this link and save the file to your PC for offline viewing].
   The suggested viewing settings in Adobe Acrobat are:
   View->Page Display->Two Up.
   View->Page Display->Show Cover Page During Two-up.
   Alternatively, set the viewing option in Acrobat to «Full Screen» for a full page by page slide show.
2. View the book online at → ISSUU [Requires FLASH].
3. View it at → SCRIBD

Preview the book: