PRESS

PRESS RELEASE 3
26 October 2018

PHOTO KATHMANDU 2018
12 OCT – 16 NOV 2018

**FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE**

Dr. Shahidul Alam receives the Photo Kathmandu 2018 Award of Excellence

Photo Kathmandu is honored to present the Photo Kathmandu 2018 Award of Excellence to Dr. Shahidul Alam for his instrumental contributions towards the development of Nepali photography and journalism.

Dr. Shahidul Alam is a pioneering Bangladeshi photographer, writer, curator, educator and activist. He is the founder of Drik Picture Library, Pathshala South Asian Media Institute, Chobi Mela International Festival of Photography and Majority World, all groundbreaking Bangladeshi institutions.

Dr. Alam represents the highest values of truth, justice and social equality. For over two decades, individuals and institutions in the Nepali photography and journalism fraternity have had the privilege of working with him and learning from him. He has been a close colleague, mentor and friend to many in Nepal, enabling access to professional development opportunities, initiating international exchanges, and always speaking up for free speech. His visionary leadership has helped to shape the development of photography, media and cultural practices in Nepal, across South Asia and the rest of the world.

Dr. Alam was detained by the Detective Branch of the Bangladesh police on 5th August 2018 and has been charged under Section 57 of the Information Communication Technology (ICT) Act. The allegations were that, Dr. Shahidul Alam, through a Facebook live video, “disseminated false, confusing and provocative statements that caused a deterioration in the law and order situation of the state, hurt the image of the state and hurt the sentiment of young students that instigated them to create social instability and engage in destructive activities.”

As of today, Dr. Shahidul Alam has been in jail for 82 days. His last bail petition was deferred again and the next hearing has been scheduled for Sunday, 28TH October 2018.

The decision to confer this year’s Photo Kathmandu Award of Excellence to Dr. Shahidul Alam was unanimously reached by the Photo Kathmandu 2018 Awards Committee that included Bikas Rauniar (Senior Nepali photojournalist), Bikas Karki, (President of Photojournalists Club Nepal and Photo Editor of Annapurna Post) and Sagar Shrestha (President of National Forum of Photojournalists).

Photo Kathmandu is an international photography festival organized by photo.circle. The festival presents exhibitions, workshops, an artist residency and a diverse range of public programming to Kathmandu audiences and international visitors every two years. Through its core and collateral programming, Photo Kathmandu creates in-depth engagement with local audiences and special interest groups on themes and topics of socio-political relevance locally.

For further enquiries, please contact:
Sushrut Acharya – press@photoktm.com

For regular updates
www.photoktm.com
www.facebook.com/photoktm
www.instagram.com/photoktm
www.twitter.com/photoktm
www.youtube.com/c/PhotoKathmanduNepal
#photoktm2018

PRESS RELEASE 2
8 October 2018

PHOTO KATHMANDU 2018
12 OCT – 16 NOV 2018

photo.circle and its partners are proud to announce the programming for the third edition of Photo Kathmandu, to be held between 12 October and 16 November 2018. The festival puts the spotlight on gender, power, identity, patriarchy, and sexuality this year, and all public programming explores these themes.

Photo Kathmandu 2018 will be inaugurated by Hon. Tham Maya Thapa, Minister of Women, Children and Senior Citizen on 12 October 2018. The festival is hosting 14 print exhibitions, 4 slideshow nights, 17 artist talks and panel discussions, 8 workshops, a mixed-media residency, as well as the festival’s first edition of South Asia Incubator program. Over 60 photographers, curators, editors, writers and art practitioners from over 20 countries are participating in the festival, and an estimated half a million locals and tourists are expected to visit the festival.

The print exhibitions feature works from a diverse roster of Nepali and international artists who will present their work in two phases. The first phase begins on October 12, and features The Lightning Testimonies by Amar Kanwar; The Public Life of Women: A Feminist Memory Project co-curated by Diwas Raja Kc and NayanTara Gurung Kakshapati; Confrontations by Bunu Dhungana; Islands of Our Bodies by Keepa Maskey, Irina Giri, and Sonam Choekyi Lama; There are no Homosexuals in Iran by Laurence Rasti; The Independent Chronicler by Shreedhar Lal Manandhar; Something Big and Glorious and Magnificently Insane: Hippie Kathmandu co-curated by Lucia De Vries and Prasiit Sthapit. 7 more exhibitions will go up on October 26 for the second phase including Sempah Tsere, Kipu Sho by the Langtang Memory Project; The Lost Head and the Bird by Sohrab Hura; Where Love is Illegal by Robin Hammond; BINDBox # 3 by the BIND Collective; Whose and Whom: The Body as a Political Landscape curated by Anshika Varma; Brotherhood | Gurkhas’ Sons by Nina Manandhar and an Open Archive allowing access to the collections of Nepal Picture Library and Madan Puraskar Pustakalaya. All exhibits will remain up until Nov 16th except The Lightning Testimonies by Amar Kanwar, which will remain up for 6 months.

Photo Kathmandu kickstarted by welcoming 6 artists from 5 different countries to its month long mixed media residency program. Working with guest curators Veeranganakumari Solanki and Sujan Chitrakar while living together in Patan, these artists have been exploring intersections between photography and various other mediums to create work that will be presented in a public pop-up exhibition during the festival’s main programming week.

The festival will begin with an Opening Weekend of programming on 13th and 14th October which will feature talks and presentations by Amar Kanwar, Pema Abrahams, Agastaya Thapa, Jennifer Bradley, Diwas Raja Kc and Ilgın Deniz Akseloğlu. The main bulk of the programming will continue on October 26 until November 1. That week will feature more works in the form of curated slideshow projections; professional development opportunities for Nepali and international artists through workshops, portfolio reviews, and networking events; and public engagement during artist talks and panels.

Photo Kathmandu creates space for conversations between the city and its public, its pasts and its aspirations. As a festival it seeks to challenge the limits of ‘artistic intervention’ and create in-depth public engagement on socio-political topics of local relevance. The festival runs a dynamic Arts and Education program that is run by a group of committed young arts educators who invite Nepali students, teachers, professional networks, and families to engage with the festival through guided tours, a specially designed learning kit that helps viewers of all ages engage with the works being featured and a seminar for teachers.

About the organizers
photo.circle was established in 2007 as a platform for photography in Nepal. Through workshops, publications, exhibitions and commissioned assignment work, photo.circle strives to create opportunities for photographers to learn, exhibit, publish and market their work. It also runs the Nepal Picture Library, Nepal’s only digital photo archive that strives to document and inclusive visual history of Nepal.

For further enquiries, please contact:
Sushrut Acharya – press@photoktm.com

For regular updates
www.photoktm.com
www.facebook.com/photoktm
www.instagram.com/photoktm
www.twitter.com/photoktm
www.youtube.com/c/PhotoKathmanduNepal
#photoktm2018