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Md Abu Salim's anguished works

Fayza Haq
Yet again, Md. Abu Salim enthralls his viewers, this time with images of "My Beloved Motherland" at the Zoom Gallery of Alliance Francaise. This is his 13th solo exhibition. He has also organised children's shows under the banner of "Imagination".
In his current exhibition, he zeroes in on the country being overrun by guns and bombs and the common man falling victim to party politics and dangerous elements. The beggar with patched clothes represents the common man who suffers at the hand of hoodlums, politicians and just about anybody who can carry a pistol or a butcher's knife. These people, who are seen on the footpath, begging, today are bereft of clothes, shelter and food.
In one of the images, a beggar is shown as being pulled down by unruly lawmakers and politicians.
This is seen in "Politics", while the one before was termed "Election". Here the
duplicity of politicians, like that of HM Ershad, who is clearly recognisable with his huge head and smile with the thin moustache, saying he will commit suicide, and no one will be there to say his last words. This is shown as a matter of pulling the politician's leg. The poverty stricken man is attacked by all and sundry.
There is "Hatta" (destruction), which should be seen clearly as damaging the interests of the people. A machine is portrayed where men are queuing up to go in but which leads to destruction and
disharmony, insists the artist. During the hartals, the lives of ordinary people are in jeopardy. Both education and business suffer greatly as shops, schools and colleges are closed. This strange phenomenon is not seen in most developed countries, the artist says.
In "Election" there is the hope of a better existence. Yet even at this crucial time the people taking part in elections use crude force to damage railway lines and block highways. There is a portrayal of crows that gather together, and lament
the fact that if they were not around there would be filth all over the town in one form or another.
There also the story of the implications of electrification in the Sundarbans. This is told in the form of a meeting of animals in the Sundarbans. The lion leads the discussion. Among the others in the animal species are a crocodile, jackal, monkey, deer and owl.
The fearful days that rocked the nation from October to December, with death, fire, destruction and the return of the "Hyenas" of 1971 rears its ugly face again, says the artist, with vehemence. There was also the destruction of trees and Buddhist and Hindu temples and we saw the pillage and ruin of civilization, says the artist. There is the tragic spectacle of more than a thousand bodies, as happened in Rana Plaza, he says. And then there is a hungry, blood-thirsty picture of an enormous demon carrying out mindless destruction, says the artist, in a painting titled "Razakar".