Among Asia’s largest photography festivals, Chobi Mela (Bengali for ‘photo fair’) is a month-long event held biennially in Dhaka, Bangladesh, beginning in 2000. The festival is an initiative of Bangladeshi independent media organisation Drik Picture Library founded by the photographer Shahidul Alam. Started with the intent to foster an international community of journalists and photographers, the festival typically showcases work on a diverse range of subjects and regions, and also seeks to introduce people in Bangladesh to the possibilities of lens-based practices, particularly in the area of photojournalism.

Each edition of Chobi Mela is curated around a theme, and typically hosts exhibitions, workshops, lectures, and occasionally film screenings. The festival has become known for circulating mobile exhibitions around the city in cycle-rickshaws or vans to attract the attention of lay audiences. The main exhibitions are usually hosted at major cultural venues including the Goethe Institut, Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, the Russian Cultural Centre and the Bangladesh National Museum. Since 2017, the festival runs a fellowship program in which fellows are commissioned to create site-specific installations in Dhaka. The festival also confers a lifetime achievement award, whose recipients include South African photographer Peter Magubane; Sayeeda Khanam, Bangladesh’s first woman photojournalist; and Rashid Talukder, known for his coverage of the Bangladesh Liberation War. 

Chobi Mela has brought international attention to Bangladeshi photography and politics and has become a highly visible and accessible space in the country’s photography ecosystem, alongside Drik Picture Library and the Pathshala Institute, both founded by Alam. Since its inception, festivals with a similar ethos have been founded in South Asia, such as Photo Kathmandu in Nepal. Between 2015 and 2019, the festival enjoyed a degree of support from the Bangladesh Ministry of Cultural Affairs; however, given Alam’s vocal criticism of the government, this support was largely withdrawn and Chobi Mela organisers have faced political censorship and interference. On one occasion, the organisers were denied permission to exhibit in public places; the exhibition was then held in an under-construction building that would eventually house Drik and Pathshala.

At the time of writing, Chobi Mela has been funded largely by international cultural institutions that have taken an interest in supporting the arts in South Asia, such as the Prince Claus Fund, Alliance Francaise (de Dacca), the British Council, Goethe Institut and the National Geographic Society.