DHAKA: Am eight-day solo photography exhibition titled ‘Innate Identities’ by Gazi Nafis Ahmed began at Bengal Shilpalaya in city’s Dhanmondi area.

US ambassador to Bangladesh Dan Mozena inaugurated the show on Saturday evening.

Gerben Sjoerd de Jong, ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Bangladesh, was present as chief guest while Leo Kenny, country director of the UN Joint Programme on HIVAIDS (UNAIDS) and John Stanmeyer, founding member of Seven Photo Agency, also a photographer of National Geography, were present as special guests at the inaugural ceremony.

Stanmeyer joined the ceremony through remote connection.

A total of 134 photographs are on display, which will remain open from 12:00pm to 8:00pm till May 17.

Born in 1982 in Dhaka, Nafis studied in arts and design at London Guildhall University and also in photography at South Asian Media Institute Pathshala and Danish School of Media and Journalism.

He participated in several photography exhibitions both at home and abroad. His photographs were published in many prestigious newspapers including The New York Times, The New Yorker, Bloomberg Businessweek, Time and The Guardian.

Nafis won prestigious ‘Blurb Photo Award’ at Format International Photography Festival in the UK.

His exhibition is organized by Bengal Shilpalaya in cooperation with the Dutch embassy, UNAIDS, Manusher Jonno and Sahara Bangladesh.

BDST: 2116 HRS, MAY 10, 2014