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Light and shat

In quest of capturing the legends

Nasir AH Mamun's exhibition at Goethe Institut

Fayza Haq
Nasir Ali Mamun, who has his ongoing solo exhibit, "Meet the Legends" at the Goethe Institue, says, " As a teenager in the mid sixties I would cut and collect the pictures of famous people from the morning newspaper even before my father could read it for which I was often scolded and even beaten. Since then I've had an obsession for famous people. After liberation in '72 I got down to following my dream even though at first it was with borrowed cameras which I would have to return after a few hours. I noticed at the outset that our photographers tended to take pictures of birds, flowers, animals and beautiful scenes. With my love for portraits of famous people I began doing something that was different from the other lens focus. I noticed at that time that there were portraits of writers on the book
jacket but they were all taken in the studio and had an artificial air about them."
Asked if he had been influenced by any photographer, he said that he admired the work of Richard Avedon, from USA and Yousuf Karsh from Canada. He is self-taught and has no gurus to go by. When he began three decades back there was no list of famous people available in Bangladesh in the museum or academies, he says. He went around asking people to give their list of famous people and in this way got a list of 200 people. Today,
he has taken pictures of about 3000 famous people, of them 17 being Nobel laureates, and 350 having died in the recent past. Mamun believes that portraits is a prime subject: he thinks that birds and plants can be photographed any- time and any place but someone like Shamsur Rahman can be obtained only in Bangladesh and Gunter Grass in Germany. Mamun had gone abroad to take pictures of people like Monica Ali and Shirin Ebadi, Norman Mailer, Octavio Paz, Joseph Brodsky, Saul Bellow, Allen Ginsberg and others.
Mamun says that compared to famous people in Bangladesh, it is much more difficult to get pictures of people like Yevtushenko, Gunter Grass or Norman Mailer inUSAand Europe. It took him four years, he says, to contact Yevtushenko after which he gave an appointment for five minutes, which stretched to 45 minutes as the two discussed poetry. He explains that there are secretaries and agents in between the subject and the eager photographer. He was in New York alone for nine years as a taxi driver.
Explaining why he used an expanse of black in his work,
Mamun says, " In a family of seven brothers and two sisters, my childhood and youth was shrouded in pain, misery and disappointments. The famous people too are often shrouded in agony with indifference from their wives and children and ignorance from the people in power. This has influenced my work where the faces are always serious and surrounded by despondency. Fortu-nately the work that I do with 'Prothom Alo' faces no conflict as the newspaper requires portraits only. They need the pictures in colour as it is easier for them and more attractive for the readers. I don't use any artificial light in my work."
Recounting the problems that he has faced in his work, Mamun says, "When I began, celebrities couldn't cooperate with me, but today I've good relations with them who realize the importance of my work. I've never really had a regular job and I'm at present being patronized by 'Prothom Alo' but I'm not a staff member of the paper. People are not willing to buy portraits in the country so far, in the way they go in for paintings of landscape and still life. My pictures are in black and white and deal with very serious subjects and don't attract the average buyer. I haven't ever gone in for regular work as I wanted to give all my time and energy to my passion of portraits. So far I've had 47 solo exhibits. I've exhibited in UK last June and before that I've exhibited in India in 1987 and in USAin 1991. In Bangladesh I've exhibited in 20 districts.
" I'm also making an 'image museum' in Faridpur. This has five sections of archives: one will be the Nasir Ali Mamun part, which will contain the portraits of famous people that I have taken. Then there will be a self portrait gallery, which will include portraits of Allen Ginsberg , Gunter Grass, SM Sultan and Quamrul Hassan. The others will contain manuscripts, a library and a collection of items on folklore specially the 'hauls' which will include their portraits, clothes and musical instruments which will contain hundred types of'ek-tara'.
"Despite the hardship I have immeasurable joy in knowing and having been with famous people, like Mother Teresa, whose hands I've held and whom I've embraced. Fortunately, my wife, Najmunnessa, has been very understanding and cooperative."