Interview with Thupstan Chhewang, leader of Ladakh Union Territory Front

In December 2009, I met the leader of the Ladakh Union Territory Front (LUTF), which controls the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council - Leh, and demands union territory status for Ladakh, that is Leh and Kargil district.
I met Thupstan Chhewang in a tent, where he was agitating with other members of LUTF (both Buddhists and Muslims) for a 3 days protest in Leh while submitting a memorandum to the president of India to obtain the Union Territory.



The interview is 20 minutes long.

Interview with Amirul Rajiv, photographer and artist

The first time I met Amirul Rajiv, we went to Old Dhaka to take some snapshots and sound recordings of monkeys. Amirul Rajiv, who is photo editor for the daily newspaper The Daily Star in Dhaka, is also a photographer, an artist and a key person for the 1 square mile project taking place in Old Dhaka as well as in Modhurpur forest. The interview was taken there, outside of Dhaka, between two workshops with the local Mandi (also called Garo) people.

In the first part of the interview, he explain his relation to Modhurpur forest, the various issues and difficulties met by the Mandi people and the artist workshop there.



The interview is 20 min. long.
The music is from Asian Dub Foundation: Journey,
together with 2 songs from The Garo of the Madhupur Forest: Funerary Lament for a dead woman
and Ajia/Song for a marriage procession by Jonik Naukrak.

You can have a look at the pictures of the 1 square mile workshop in Madhupur forest presenting various performances and site specific works.



In the second part of the Interview, Amirul Rajiv tells us about the particularities of Old Dhaka and the importance of monkeys. He is currently working on a long time artistic project, aiming at raising awareness on this original population of Dhaka.



The interview is 12 min. long.
The music is from Manu Chao: King of Bongo.

Have a look at the pictures of the 1 square mile open studio on 4th December 2009 presenting among other site specific works some of Amirul Rajivs photographs.