QUEENS — A Long Island City exhibit showcasing the works of nine prominent Bangladeshi photographers will offer a glimpse into the country's everyday life, history and culture.
“Eyes on Bangladesh,” which opens Wednesday, will feature photographs by Rashid Talukder, who won the National Geographic All Roads Photography Award in 2010 and Taslima Akhter, one of the winners of the 2014 World Press Photo contest, among others.
The country, the organizers said, usually is discussed in the context of natural and man-made disasters, but they hoped the exhibit would showcase Bangladesh in a different light.
“We want to show an objective view of Bangladesh,” said Nabil Rahman, 26, a freelance journalist, who grew up in Parkchester. Rahman organized the exhibit with a group of young activists and artists who were born in Bangladesh and raised in New York.
He said the goal is also to “start a conversation with other New Yorkers.”
Rahman noted that every evening, the exhibit, which ends on March 30, will be accompanied by various events, including a screening of “Muktir Gaan,” a documentary film by Tareque and Catherie Masud that explores the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971.
There will also be a discussion with New York Times Lens Blog editor James Estrin and reporters from the South Asian Journalist Association “about photography, media, Bangladesh and other developing countries.”
And there will be a panel discussion where immigrant parents and their children discuss their experiences, aiming to bridge the gap between the two groups, Rahman said.
“They have not forgotten their roots,” Abu Taher, executive editor of Bangla Patrika, a New York-based weekly Bangladeshi newspaper, told DNAinfo about the group of young organizers.
The exhibit will be on display at Soundview Broadcasting at 36-01 37th Ave. (3rd floor) from Wednesday, March 26 to Sunday, March 30. Regular exhibition hours: 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. All events are free and open to the public. For more information and schedule of events, go here.
