Anja Bohnhof

Bahak

The Bengali term for burden carriers is “Bahak”. No load seems too heavy or too large to be transported through the narrow, crowded streets of Calcutta. Whether their burdens are carried on their heads, or over their shoulders, whether travelling on two or three wheelers or on even a Rickshaw, everything possible is schlepped – furniture, building material, groceries, books, coal – you name it, they carry it!

“Bahak”, that means a life as a hireling living on the brink of society. Nevertheless, in a mega metropolis, with overcrowded narrow streets, unsuitable for power driven vehicles – they are indispensable to keep the gigantic flow of commodities going!

For a few weeks, I set up a makeshift studio at the end of these streets and asked a few of these burden bearers to pause for a moment so that they could be portrayed individually, detached from the constant commotion of the bustling crowds – an expression of admirable astonishment at the visible artistry contained within the motion of things.

Anja Bohnhof (1974) studies photography and design. She graduated from Bauhaus University in Weimar. Since 2006 she has lectured in photography at the University of Cologne. She received a number of awards, e.g. international scholarships in Island, Austria and India. Since 2004 she has worked as a freelance photographer. Her works have been exhibited e.g. in Museum Kunstpalast in Düsseldorf (2012), Leopold Museum in Vienna (2011), Museum of Photography in Thessaloniki (2007). Anja Bohnhof is a member of a photo agency based in Hamburg.


OFF PIOTRKOWSKA
Festival Centre
Piotrkowska 138/140

opening hours
6.06 (Thu): 6 pm. – 10 pm.
7.06-16.06 (Mon-Sun): 11 am. – 8 pm.
latest entrance: 7.00 pm.

opening: 6.06, 7 p.m.
exhibition is held: 6-16.06