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Dhaka Day by Day

To Dress or not to Dress

by S Bari
Trygve Bolstad has always lived on or near the water. As a boy In Norway, sailing yvas part of growing up But he never Imagined that one day he would cat. sleep and live for weeks on a river boat In Bangladesh, far from the cold fjords of his homeland. There Isn't that much difference." he ouips. "there, we dress to go on board, here In the heal we undress."
Bolstad htts been undressing during his visits to Bangladesh over the past four years. The result is the photographer's soon-to-be-relascd book on the boats of the country, entitled 'Sailing against the Wind'.
One day In 1988, the freelancer was watching TV. when the floods In Bangladesh appeared on the news. "I Just thought. 'I have to go,' and three days later here I was." he narrates. He spent Ove weeks travelling around the countryside by bus. rickshaw, train, and by river path. Since that year, he has been back regularly, and has covered all four seasons on the river. He met writer Eirik G Jansen in Dhaka, .and together they hatched the Idea of a book. Jansen was project manager of a country boat study in Bangladesh, and as such knew the subject well.
Bolstad was well-qualified for the Job. In 1971, at the age of 21. he took a boat to Denmark. and travelled around the world for a year. "I was hooked on seeing the world; my plans of coming back to study Just vanished. To continue travelling. 1 had three choices of ca rcer: Io be a carpenter, a doctor, or a photographer." he recalls with a smile. "So when I came back Io Norway I applied to ail three schools. I derided that the first to reply would be my choice, and that's how I became a pho-
^togrnpher." Crisscrossing the globe with his camera. Bolstad has been to more than 70 countries. What made Bangladesh so special? "I was caught by the boats." he answers. “I find them beautiful.' He explains that beautiful is a word easily misinterpreted in photography. Taking pictures of disasters is often attacked as the ■beautification of misery.” But Bolstad maintains that beauty is present In the smallest details and the deepest tragedies.
"Taking pictures Is a question of telling people something." The mission of hts boat series, he feels, Is to depict the many roles of the boat. It Is home, workplace, means of livelihood, storage space, friend, and symbol of freedom of movement.
The boats dan be delicate, hard, old. new," Bolstad describes. There Is a hidden aesthetic quality in everything about them. And the people whose Ilves revolve around these boats are also beautiful. In the way they walk, the way they carry loads, their muscles, the lines on their faces." Bolstad fears that Increasing mechanisation will soon erode the lives of river-folk. "Coming from an industrialised country. 1t‘s hypocritical of me to say that mechanisation Is harmful, but I must admit that a great deni has been lost over these few years as molorlscd boats take over the water-ways."
Bolstad's favourite time Is the mornings. "You don't know what you might get. Perhaps the day will bring you a classic shot. I have tea with the boatman on the roof after getting up with the sun. Thal Is something I will remember most about Bangladesh." says the bespectacled blond.