Posts tagged Art

As an immigrant born in Pakistan, which is next to Bangladesh and shares many of its cultural aspects, I found this gallery visit quite relatable. Yet, despite knowing a lot about the general culture, I also saw the country through the eyes of the curator, who depicted a mix of uplifting and depressing images that embodied the essence of the country.

Many of the pictures showcased in the gallery “Eyes on Bangladesh” depicted the culture of the country as unique–full of rich values and of a troublesome past. Bangladesh has many rich features, especially well-depicted in the pictures taken of Dhaka. As seen in many of the photographs, Dhaka is where resides a major Hindu population and where occur many of the Hindu festivals, akin to Christmas in western countries. The curator portrays the joy and rich culture present in Bangladesh, with streets full of people celebrating and performing their own traditions. At the same time, we also see pictures that portray barren and broken-down streets and pictures of people working very hard in factories and sleeping in tightly-packed spaces. They are forced to work in poor conditions, for long hours, similar to the sweatshops in America almost a century ago. There is still much poverty to overcome in Bangladesh, but the gallery shines a positive outlook on this issue. The gallery also shows that Bangladesh had a rich history of conflict and strife: the 1971 split of the former East and West Pakistan into the modern Pakistan and Bangladesh was depicted far more violently than I’d imagined, which again speaks of the rich culture and past of the country.

If we view the gallery in order, starting with the telephone conversation, going around clockwise, and ending with the portraits of people posing as what they most desire, we actually see a very distinct message about Bangladesh. The gallery starts off, mentioning the strifes and struggles that Bangladesh as a country has faced over time, and it also shows how it has overcome struggles and grown into a culturally-diverse country with time. The gallery portrays growth and development of Bangladesh. It shows the past–the revolution. It shows the present–like the cultural custom of having maids. It shows the future prospects–the fact that Bangladesh might go under sea level within a few decades, and that there is major development of buildings. The final selection of works, displaying people dressed up to fulfill their dreams, ends on the positive prospects for Bangladesh’s future. In fact, we can go back full circle, back to the reminiscent work about the artist pondering on the telephone call with his mother, which portrays the message that though the past has been troublesome, the future looks better.