Name of the collection: YogAspire
Exhibition Venue: IGCC and National Museum, Dhaka
Date: June 2015
YogAspire:
Yoga is symbolic of our constant aspiration to become better mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually. It is a practice that embodies our desire for a higher goal while being rooted in reality. Therefore Yoga captures the true essence of aspiration. In today’s chaotic, frenetic world, it is important to remain connected to this aspiration. The images shot by Rajesh Ramakrishnan attempt to capture these thoughts and will be displayed in the upcoming exhibition on Yoga at the IGCC, Gulshan from 13 to 21 June as part of the Indian High Commission’s events to commemorate International Yoga Day on June 21st. “I have attempted to show through my pictures that this aspiration is a state of being, something that we can access at anytime, anywhere irrespective of our surroundings and who we are. If we remain hopeful, calm and focused on our aspirations, we can live our dreams, and Yoga enables us to do that”, says Rajesh. These pictures were shot in and around Dhaka and feature Anika Rabbani, a well-known Yoga teacher, Samir Obaid, a popular musician amongst others.
Rajesh Ramakrishnan is a passionate award-winning photographer, as well as the Managing Director of Perfetti van Melle Bangladesh Pvt Ltd. His work has been extensively featured in several publications in India and outside, and also in exhibitions in India. Rajesh has also conceptualized and shot a desk-top calendar with prominent celebrities every year for the last 5 years to raise money for charity. The calendars for 2010 [A to Z of Emotions], 2011 [Bring out the Child in you], 2013 [Sun Signs] and 2014 [What makes me Happy] were sold to raise money for different NGOs. His calendar for 2015 was shot in Bangladesh on the theme of “Passions of Bangladesh” and it sold 500 copies to raise money for JAAGO. Rajesh combines his passion for photography with a love for travel and likes capturing the nuances of life on the streets in different cities. Rajesh has extensively travelled across different countries in Europe and Asia to explore and experience the local culture and customs. Rajesh is currently working on evolving his photography into an art form.
The exhibition is being curated by Aninda Kabir, popularly known as Avik, who is a creative artist with a full time job as the Chief Creative Officer for a local advertising company. His creative journey started as a musician and eventually as a producer/sound engineer and to explore new ways to express creativity he moved to visuals and then to animation, digital compositing and producing videos. In 2010 he was awarded as best Music video producer by the prestigious Citycell – Channel I collaboration. He picked up photography as a passion in 2007, and he quickly established himself and has been involved with the largest amateur photographers forum “TTL” [ Through The Lens ], where he organizes and curates competitive exhibitions like “Bangladesh in Frames” and “Out of the box”. He is now working with some big names in the Photography circles including Abir Abdullah, Hasan Chandan and Syed Latif Hossain. He is also the chief of visual research and communication by MAKNA (Majlis Kanser Nasional or National Cancer Council) in Malaysia (2010-2013). Avik keeps challenging himself to push his limits further to set new benchmarks.