Where Three Dreams Cross:
150 Years of Photography from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh
21 January – 11 April 2010

The Whitechapel Gallery presents the first major survey of historic and contemporary photography from the subcontinent.

This landmark exhibition explores culture and modernity through the lens of photographers from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, with over 400 works by 82 artists. Images on show range from the earliest days of photography in 1860 to the present day. Seminal works from the most important collections of historic photography, including the renowned Alkazi Collection in Delhi, the Drik Archive in Dhaka, the Abhishek Poddar Collection in Bangalore, and the White Star Archive in Karachi join many previously unseen images from private family archives, galleries, individuals and works by leading contemporary artists.

Where Three Dreams Cross gives an inside view of photography from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. It includes images from the first Indian-run photographic studios in the 19th century, social realism and reportage photography from the 1940s, the documentation of key political moments, amateur photography from the 1960s, and street photography from the 1970s. Contemporary documentary-style photographs of everyday life present an economic and social critique, while the recent digitalisation of photography accelerates crossovers with fashion, film and documentary.

26-year-old Munem Wasif is part of this show.