Held in conjunction with its Annual Conference, the Association for Asian Studies (AAS) invites you to the opening of the photography exhibition, From Kabul to Kolkata: Of Belonging, Memories, and Identity, in Washington D.C. on March 23.
CAORC, the American Institute of Afghanistan Studies, and the American Institute of Indian Studies, alongside other organizations, are co-sponsoring the event.
From the exhibit's Facebook page:
In 1892, Rabindranath Tagore wrote a short story in Bengali about a man from a distant land—Afghanistan—living in Kolkata.
Since then, the Kabuliwala has taken on a life of its own, with translations in many Indian and foreign languages as well as cinematic adaptations and theatrical performances. While until a few decades ago, real Kabuliwalas were a common sight on the streets of Kolkata, as in most cities of north and central India, today stereotypes and standard attributes have formed an ambiguous image of these people.
Inspired by this story, Moska Najib and Nazes Afroz, two journalist-cum-photographers, embarked on a project about the Kabuliwalas of Kolkata that touches upon social transformations within this community over the past 100 years.
Taking cues from literary and aesthetic themes encapsulated in Tagore’s short story, the two artists have captured the stories of this secluded and little-known settlement in the present time through documentary and set up art photography.
The series will connect viewers to the themes of human bonding as narrated by Tagore and will also touch on the issues of loss of identity and a new sense of belonging. Viewers will experience the tension between preserving an identity and rebuilding a home in a new space.