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Dhaka Day by Day

People in context

By Fayza Haq
While young artists In Bangladesh can be seen to have a penchant for the west, Steve Perry and Jim King have turned to Bangladesh for their inspiration in their exhibition of pho togeaphy held at Gulshan They have used face, and places all over the countryside to arrest the attention of the viewer. This was seen at a recent exhibitton In Gulshan.
"One of the fascinating things about photo graphs Is the realism It Is different from paint Ing which is an Interpretation of an artist. Why I Hite photographs Is that they tell a story be yond the Image that you see. As a creative writing exercise tn school you got a picture and you had to write about It. This is the reverse. " Steve Perry pointed out
About his piece 'Candidate Member" he ex plained how the subject was once a very poor woman working for a project of CARE for which he himself had worked.These women had many children and no husband. The old woman tn the picture was now going to run for election of the union parishad. "You sec the happy ending of a story where she began as a beggar and was now a confident and outspoken politician "
The Ricksha walla was taken Steve was Just learning Bangla 1 had Just come Into the coun
try and was seeing everything tn a fresh way. When I first came to Noakha
new and interesting. Today I would not go into ecstasies over a .uch a subject." he re-
You could see the "Union Chairman" with his beard and cap. Steve described him as a power fill and wealthy man with a fleet of fishing boats. This was a tense moment where the union
ly that they could not make contributions to the rural maintenance programme." Steve elab-3 rated.
As an administrator for the Food for Work project. Steve's Job took him to the villages. There he took a plclure which he simply called ‘Girl" . "One of the things about the villages that I like In Bangladesh 1s that despite the poverty the people arc happy. The girl Is obviously poor but is quite contented and that is remarkable." he commented.
In "Social Mobilisation" was the Ttka Project" which dealt with immunisation. The staff were seen urging the people to have inocula Uon and the air about the whole exercise was like a fair — *n 8 holiday mood. "Mustard Field" was a photograph about the mustard which is In bloom only for two weeks. The sides of the road which had become yellow patches Includ -d a woman and her child — who were seen weeding.
"I was in Bangladesh for only two weeks when I was fascinated by the Icecream Seller with this little blue box- He was trying very hard to sell me icecream which I had been warned not to have." Steve explained about an other entree. In the "Paddyfish Farmer" Steve was Impressed by the tremendous variety of greens in the country. All the greens In the photos differ from one another. Il is amazing how the farmer grows the fish among the pad dy to improve the harvest as the fish eat up the bugs." he narrated.
In the collectton of 127 photos Steve had many more entrees. This is a country with a tot of problems but I find it a place with full of hope and sincerity. People arc trying to take things tn their own hands and overcome the problem. This is also a country with different opinions — politically, socially and devetopmen tally. The openness to new ideas is something healthy. The only thing that is difficult about taking pictures tn Bangladesh is taking a photo of only one person as people are curious and all crowd before the camera."Steve concluded
Jim King, a 39 year old worker for the Men nonite Centra] Committee from Philadelphia, finds the people from Bangladesh ‘warmhearted. curious and photogenic.' He added "I like the combination of the brown skin with the dark hair - it is so striking ' He works tn places like Saidpur. Barlsal. Noakhail and My mensingh.
The picture from Mymenslngh had an old man with a skull cap and broken glasses. "I found him Interesting because of the way he patched his spectacle* In the middle " From
Jalchatro came the picture of a tribal woman carrying a heavy load Dhamrat was ihe source of the portrayal of a beggar woman with her bag of rice No 30 had the "phcrlwallas* and beggars trying to sell the fruit, tea and "chanach-ur". Jim had captured the interaction between the for eigner and the ferry people.
"Every object has a functional sense and a textural sense.
When put together they make an art form." said Jim about a photo of a collection of metal sieves tn No 32. Arches of a mosque was the subject of No 33 "seen at this angle the collection of arches look like art work", the photographer elabo rated. No 3^ focused on weaving a "patl" (mat) in Barlsal. The old man making the mat told me that indigenous crafts like weaving baskets and mats were getting lost because the young people arc no longer Interested in continuing to make them and also because plastic and aluminium are more popular for utilitarian objects." Jim commented.
In No 35 was an absorbing close up of a calloused hand with money. This was the "Rickshawalla" giving Jim the change *ln Ban gladesh no matter what business It Is nobody has any change and says 'Bhangtl Nai' he recounted. There were many more interesting shots like the bag of peanuts put up for sale In a shop, a Hindu standing In front of his monastery cell In Dinajpur, and people chatting after prayers outside Satmasjid mosque.
The photographers, had put together the portraits and landscapes from different areas In Bangladesh, and presented a picture that was honest and yet optimistic and even full of humour.