Aphotography exhibition entitled, 'The Changing Faces of Shariakandi: 19722002' starts at the gallery of Alliance Francaise de dhaka in the city from April 7. The exhibition comprises of a large compilation of works by a French medical practitioner, Dr. Pierre Claquin, also an amateur photographer, who is based in Bangladesh since 1972.
The prints those are to be displayed in the show includes scenes of common life, faces and landscape of Shariakandi, a region of Bogra district that had seen development in various sectors of health, sanitation and particularly immunization of children against polio, since the post liberation period. Dr. Pierre Claquin along with team members of BAM (Brothers to All Men) had provided health-related services to the rural community of the area specially, with a 25-bed hospital sheltered in the WAPDA compound in Shariakandi thana headquarter during the early-70's.
Pierre has always preferred
capturing facial expressions of the common mass. It all started at Shariakandi, back in 1972, when he took photographs of a few local citizens, most of who included members of the younger group.
Decades passed and a kind of curiosity started developing inside Pierre's mind about the state and living condition of the people, whose impressions he captured earlier.
He started tracking his models. Initially, it was a very difficult task but soon fruits began to appear. To his amazement, he found most of them. Out of an initial list of 43 people, 9 had died while 8 had moved out to new locations, unknown to the villagers. The rest seemed quite indifferent and were reluctant to pose once again. Only two showed their tolerance. It is a sad fact that many of the negatives of the photos taken in the early and mid-70's could not be traced at all. Pierre had moved residence more than 12 times in 30 years and as a result, managed to store half of his total number of negatives.
As said by Pierre, 'The exhibition will also introduce their own brief
comments on their lives. This retrospective is not a nostalgic exercise but a first step in an approach aiming at giving back part of their past heritage to small municipalities'. Pierre felt that it was important for municipal bodies to start gathering documentation on the past lives of the people and showing it to them.
'It would be great of Shariakandi to see that the first sparkle of a united broader movement all over the country started from its base', Pierre added.
The medical doctor, who loves Bangladesh deep from his heart and shows all the behaviours of a typical Bengali, hopes that this exhibition will begin afresh a renewed interest on the part of municipalities and individuals to become actors in the documentation of their own histories.
The exhibition at Alliance Francaise de dhaka remains open for all till the evening of April 9.