Chobi Mela, Asia’s largest celebration of photography and visual storytelling brought to you by Drik Picture Library Ltd. and Pathshala South Asian Media Institute, is back for the 8th time, and is bigger than ever as it plans to saturate Dhaka, Bangladesh for two weeks with stories untold and unseen, stories that stir nostalgia, stories that titillate, and stories that madden us, as we explore the theme of ‘Intimacy’ with the help of more than 30 artists from across 22 countries. Taking place from the 23rdof January, 2015 to the 5thof February, 2015across 11 venues all over Dhaka in an attempt to bring together all the diverging faces and dimensions of this city, Chobi Mela VIII will bring big names likeAnwar Hossain, Cristina Nuñez, Denis Dailleux, James Estrin and Larry Towell under the same roof with some of the most up and coming photographers of the region to create a synergy of exchange, expression and desegregation.

Exhibitions, portfolio reviews, gallery walks, book launches, workshops, panel discussions and lectures will be galore and the list of events keep expanding. Meanwhile, we recommend that you book your calendars and set your eyes on Dhaka to experience what has been reviewed previously as “perhaps the world’s most demographically inclusive festival” (New York Times).