Last January, the Whitechapel Gallery in East London presented the first major survey of historic and contemporary photography from the Indian sub-continent in the United Kingdom.
Nearly a month later a heated debate about photography from the sub-continent also took place at the gallery.
Of course, historically the UK always had a vested interest in the nations that are now called India, Pakistan and Bangladesh for obvious imperial reasons. Therefore the image of that sub-continent has never lacked of interest.
Today, however, the image has changed as contemporary photographers from these three nations convey another perspective about what culture and modernity is all about in the 20th and early 21st centuries through a photo exhibition titled "Where Three Dreams Cross".
The originality of this huge retrospective - changing the image of some non-European photography - has proven to be extremely popular and well appreciated. The photo exhibition is scheduled to be showcased in Switzerland after the London show closes on April 11.
Last November, a similar approach in revising specific images of Arab countries and Iran was also the focus of the annual Paris Photo Fair in the French capital.
Every year there is a different "invited visitor" to this very popular and very important, international photography fair to which international, including European and non-European visitors, buyers and collectors always pay a prolonged visit over the weekend to Paris.
"Since the beginning Paris Photo has been introducing mainly Non-European photography to the general public in its yearly themes. The 2009 edition will be focusing on historical and contemporary Arab and Iranian photography which is still largely unknown to the western world," said Guillaume Pens, the art director of the fair.
Despite it being a commercial fair, Paris Photo also presents non-commercial photography in the sense that museum curators take part and present their works.
For those unfamiliar with Arab photography, many of the prints on show were a revelation. In addition, workshops and lectures filled the halls while many galleries in Paris also held parallel shows exhibiting prints with related images and auction houses held sales over the weekend of the fair.
Female Arab photographers took part in the exhibition, an exposure which seemed necessary with vintage prints of lascivious, lounging Arab princesses or normal women but dressed in flowing robes and faces somehow covered, but which still came to mind.
Even the BMW annual photo prize which was won by a young Dutch photographer presented an image of non-European women immigrants celebrating a Muslim feast in the Netherlands.
Catherine David, French curator of the Arab photography there says, "Our intention was to show how the historical Orientalist approach to Arab photography does not reflect the modern reality of the photographic scene in Arab countries and Iran."
Coming back to London, "When Three Dreams Cross" also deals with present day images from outside Europe. In this case, the London show presents over 400 works by 82 artists from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
These images range from the earliest days of photography in 1860 to the present day.
The exhibition which runs until April 11 here in London then moves onto Switzerland to the Fotomuseum in Winterthur. It is presented in five themes which incorporate historic, modern and contemporary works: The Performance, The Portrait, The Family, The Streets and The Body Politic.
To fully appreciate the rich profusion of the photography of the sub-continent, it is recommended to take several days to enjoy and understand the myriad images.
One of my favorite Indian photographers, apart from Raghu Rai of Magnum, is Ragubir Singh with his series featuring the well-known ambassador cars, and indeed there is at least one on display here. Unfortunately he died early but with his works already featured a few years back at Paris Photo and he is now considered eminently collectible.
Of course photo fans are now waiting to hear what will be the next focus of Paris Photo in November, but considerable thirst for non-European photography has been slaked by the Whitechapel exhibition.
However we are still waiting for a major photography show of Southeast Asian images, it has been a long time since Indonesia was show-cased by the Festival of Indonesia in the States.
