Munem Wasif is an artist, curator, and educator based in Dhaka. His work investigates themes of memory, place and identity, primarily through photographs and video.

He has been a co-curator of Chobi Mela since the festival’s eighth edition in 2015, and has curated two major survey shows for the festival since then: of legendary Bangladeshi photographer Anwar Hossain (Chobi Mela VIII, 2015), and Nasir Ali Mamun (Chobi Mela IX, 2017). Together with Mahbubur Rahman, he also co-curated 1134 - Lives not Numbers (2014), an exhibition paying tribute to the garment workers who lost their lives in the Rana Plaza factory disaster.

He had exhibitions worldwide including, Center Pompidou, Palais de Tokyo & Visa pour l’image in France, Whitechapel Gallery, Kettle’s Yard & Victoria & Albert museum in England, Museu d’Art Contemporani de in Spain, Musee de elysee, Musée d’Art et d’Histoire & Fotomuseam Winterthur in Switzerland, Kunsthal museum & Noordelicht festival in Netherlands, Museum of Modern Art in Poland, Parasite in Hong Kong, The Factory Contemporary Arts Centre in Vitenam, Gwangju biennale in Korea, Singapore biennale in Singapore, Sharjah Bienalle in UAE, Asia Pacific Triennial of contemporary art in Australia, and Dhaka Art summit & Chobi Mela in Bangladesh.

Wasif’s book publications include Belonging (Clémentine de la Feronnière Editions, 2013) and Salt Water Tears (Images Plurielles, 2011); and together with Tanzim Wahab, he has published two editions of Kamra, a Bangla-language anthology of essays on photography.

Wasif also a fellow at Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin from 2020-2021.