Dhaka : Memories of Lost

Dhaka, one of the largest settlements in the world, is a theater of oddities. Once a garden city, its growth has outpaced any notion of order or sustainability, and in the wake of this fast, ad-hoc development, the records of what it once was and who lived here have been lost. Tall buildings and big cars throw a mirage, but underneath it all small moments and unknown lives exist. Kashef Chowdhury's photographs are sketches made in dark alleys and on inaccessible riversides; from a rickshaw or from rooftops; in the dead of night or drenched in monsoon. They are also investigations into societal shifts and cultural flux. The sidelight of a truck, so protected from theft that it is hardly visible. A woman throws polythene she has just washed into the air, to lay to dry and sell for reuse. Tired souls lie like corpses in the late morning: They have worked through the night in the wholesale market a floor below. A blind singer sings mystic songs of love, love as the light of life.