A Competition of Creativity

From February 7 to 11, Intra NSU Art & Photography Competition and Exhibition 2016 took place in the NSU Recreation Center and the NSU Exhibition Center. The event was inaugurated by the Vice Chancellor (in-charge) of NSU, Dr. Gour Govinda Goswami, Nasir Ali Mamun, a renowned photographer of Bangladesh and Dr. Emdadul Haque, Director, Student Affairs, NSU. 

This event of North South University Art & Photography Club (NSUAPC) has been hosted since 2000 and has always been an occasion for NSU students to show their talent in art and photography while competing with their peers.

This year saw NSUAPC hosting the largest yet Intra NSU Art & Photography Competition and Exhibition. For the first time, artwork and photographs were displayed together, along with a collection of vintage cameras and photography books written by prominent photographers of country and abroad. Moreover, the categorisation, judgement and curation process for the exhibition was done differently than the previous editions. Mobile phone photography was submitted, which was a very welcome change. Instead of using frames, the selected photographs were being displayed on glass panels and doors of the exhibition venue, both on the inside and outside. This way, the photographs could be viewed from within the hall, while they stole admiring looks from those who passed by outside the venue.

The yearly event reached a new level this time, breaking all previous records. After submissions of 1022 stunning photographs and 35 creative artworks, 75 photographs from 38 photographers and 20 artworks from 9 artists were selected for the exhibition. Portfolio presentations from the likes of Imam Hasan, Hameem Shakhawat and Rahul Talukdar provided the participants and the crowd a lot of insight into the art of photography.

Saud Al Faisal, a pioneering character in the photographic society, and Ashraful Awal Mishuk, professional photographer and faculty member, Pathshala South Asian Media Institute, were the judges for the photography competition. Hamidur Rahman, Senior Lecturer, Department of Architecture, NSU, judged the artworks. A total of 16 awards were given in different categories such as Life, Portrait, Architecture, Conceptual, Landscape and Mobile. Three awards were given for the best artworks exhibited. 

The closing ceremony was held on February 11, 2016, where the winners received their prizes and were treated to a grand buffet dinner. The President of the club, Nasimul Islam Abir spoke to SHOUT about this year's event. 

"We were delighted seeing the tremendous response we got from NSUers and we hope to come up with more distinct and creative events in future. I thank the NSUAPC members, administration, sponsors, judges, and all those who were involved in making our biggest in-house exhibition reach a new level," he said.

Artisan Outfitters Limited was the gold sponsor for the event, while Noman Group and ENOC Lubricants co-sponsored respectively. SHOUT was the English Print Media partner of the event.