Reflecting wanderlust
"This is a kaleidoscope of everything that had an impression on me, in Germany --including Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne-- Italy, and England. For the last 15 years I've been working in black and white as it suits me best and I can fully express myself in it. It is through this abstraction that I can best communicate myself. The absence of colours helps one to concentrate on the content of the photographs," Kashef says.
The picture in Venice brings in a range of T-shirts based on rock bands. The old traditional Italian city has been encroached by modern globalisation. In the shop window is the reflection of an old Venetian building; thus we see the two eras contrasted. The next picture on Zolverine is a contrast. This used to be the biggest mining site, which is now closed. "They are now trying to turn it into a cultural centre and we see a group that has assembled there for a classical performance," says Kashef.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. In another photograph is again a shop window in which you seen many antique bric-a-bracs in a Venetian shop. If you see carefully you can read the writing below "We send all over the world by UPS" just below a reproduction of a famous drawing by Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel. Thus we see the commercialisation of culture.
Another photo shows a man, focused from head down, who is giving some information on a monument in Berlin that deals with the genocide. "I'm personally not sure if you need such monuments in the city as there are enough to remember the holocaust," Kashef says. Yet another picture shows a statue on top of a dome. "This is timeless as compared to the other picture where I feel that people are trying to commercialise history," says Kashef. A tiny cross seen in an expanse of black of a church is another unforgettable piece. Kashef did not bring any more details as he felt that this was enough for him.
Cy Twomble's painting in a museum forms the subject of another photograph. To make the imagination work, the picture has been taken in a blurred way. In another end of the exhibition room is a set of three pictures set in Munich. In the first you see an expanse of grass, flowers and in the distance is an advertisement of a human being. The second photograph continues with the optimism of city development and brings in the advertisement of a laughing young woman. "Yet all this growth sometimes lead to an economic crash," says Kashef. The third picture depicts a famous museum building, in Bilbao, Spain. Parallel to it is a window through which you can see an actual building outside.
Kashef's other semi-abstract works are also mind-whirling , and add to the wide range of photography in Dhaka. The display was a departure from the boats and skies that one is normally confronted with.