I spotted the Whitechapel Gallery’s Where Three Dreams Cross: 150 Years of Photography from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh on my way to the markets around Brick Lane last Sunday. It’s usually £8.50 (£6.50 for concession), but the exhibition is free on Sundays before 1 o’ clock, and I bumbled through the doors at quarter to 1 – things were going my way for once.
Running between 21st January 2010 – 11th April 2010, it contains a massive collections of stunning, historic and mesmerising photography.
Split into five broad areas of investigation – the portrait, the performance, the family, the street and the body politic – the exhibition is a brilliantly crafted labour of love that provides a series of snapshot insights into life in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
The collection includes an absorbing shot of mother Teresa with her world weary, deeply lined face in her hands at her home in Kolkata, as well as images of Gandhi & Nehru throughout the Indian independence movement and the subsequent division of India and Pakistan. However, what the exhibition does best is to portray the similarity of humanity, despite cultural, religious and class divisions.
Split between two floors (don’t leave without going upstairs like I nearly did), the exhibition has an amazing array of photographs. Some beautiful, some interesting, but none of them dull. Catch it while you can, especially if it’s quarter to one on a Sunday.
Whitechapel Gallery’s Where Three Dreams Cross: 150 Years of Photography from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh review: 4.4/5
