Jyoti Omi Chowdhury and Frances Kai-Hwa Wang Photography Exhibit Opening and Reading Kerrytown Concert House, August 7 August 7, 2012

Kerrytown Concert House will be hosting an opening reception for photographer Jyoti Omi Chowdhury’s new exhibit, “Boots of Spanish Leather,” together with a reading by writer Frances Kai-Hwa Wang, on Tuesday, August 7, 2012, 5:00 to 7:00 pm. This exhibit will run through September 4. Kerrytown Concert House is located at 415 N. 4th Avenue, Ann Arbor, 48104. (734) 769-2999. www.kerrytownconcerthouse.com

Jyoti Omi Chowdhury’s photography exhibits the equipoise between space and human identity. Most of his photographs were taken at various warzones and dictatorships, from Somalia to Burma. Instead of replicating and imitating the dire conditions that are part and parcel of human existence within these warzones, Chowdhury’s photography captures the levity, beauty, and randomness of people’s lives in these places. It is ultimately a homage to undying human spirit that refuses to wither even in the most desperate of circumstances.

He will be joined by writer Frances Kai-Hwa Wang who will read from her newest work, “Imaginary Affairs—postcards from an imagined life,” a collection of prose poems and short short stories which wanders across the landscapes of Ann Arbor, Berkeley, Kathmandu, Hawaii, and Asian America, and is described by author May-lee Chai as “a contemporary pillow book of sensual longing, heartache, erotic impulse, and wry wit…to be savored like dark chocolate on a moonlit night.”

Chowdhury and Wang will also discuss their latest collaboration which brings together their mutual fascination with landscape, light, space, identity, and human spirit, together creating dreamy and droll scenes that linger in the imagination, whether set in a Somali warzone or in a downtown Ann Arbor café.

Jyoti Omi Chowdhury was born in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, where his formative years were spent daydreaming about women and soccer under the cusp of a military dictatorship. He moved to the wilderness of the American prairies and western Canada for university, and eventually wound his way to Harvard, researching and writing on genocide, gender equity, war theory, and liberalism. During his PhD fieldwork, he found an outlet in photography. This is Chowdhury’s third solo show, his first two were in Boston and Berlin.

Frances Kai-Hwa Wang is a second-generation Chinese American from California who now divides her time between Michigan and the Big Island of Hawaii. She is a contributor for New America Media's Ethnoblog, Chicagoistheworld.org, PacificCitizen.org, InCultureParent.com. She teaches writing and Asian Pacific American History and the Law, and she is a popular speaker on Asian Pacific American issues.

More information at Kerrytownconcerthouse.com and franceskaihwawang.blogspot.com.