photoworldvision

Photography in Bangladesh @photoworldvision

 

Bangladesh is a youthful nation, yet its visual craftsmanship customs draw upon antiquated practices datingbackto450BCE1.TheearliestinfluencesdrewupontheMaurianarts2.ThePalarule (750–1174CE)andlatertheSenarulethroughthe11thand12thcenturiesledtoBuddhist, Chinese,Japanese,easternAsianandTibetanartinfluences.3 Islamicartthrivedduring Mughalrule,andevencolonialinfluencesshapedtheemergenceoftheartsinthesubcon-tinent. Apparently, imperialism may have prompted the early selection of photography in the regionastheearlycolonialists'propensityfordocumentationandtheneedtopropagate thecolonialmessagerequiredextensiverecordsofthecolony.TheBourneandShepherd studio, set up in 1863, remains the most seasoned photographic studio in existence4.

 

 

After the segment of India in 1947, the east wing of Pakistan, which is by and by Bangla-desh,stillretainedanaffinity forthearts,whichtoanextent,waslessencouragedbythe Pakistanistate,asartwasconsideredun-Islamic.Theinfluenceofmodernartrightupto1970'shadanimpactonsubsequentartpracticeinBangladesh.TheemergenceofBangla-desh, in light of a mainstream constitution, given more noteworthy opportunity, yet it was generally a couple of people, in particular Zainul Abedin and his counterparts of the cutting edge craftsmanship development, who gave the premise of quite a bit of visual workmanship rehearses today.

Ironically,despitemodernismhavingbeenakeyinfluenceonAbedinandhiscontemporar-ies, what has restricted the craftsmanship development since, has been a throwbackto pictorialism, or the significance to shape being given over substance, which has stifled more contemporary tendenciesinthevisualartsgenerally.Thisproclivitytowardsformhasalsobeenthebasis of quite a bit of early photographic practice in Bangladesh. A further factor deferring the devel-opmentofphotographyinthecountrylayinthenon-recognitionofphotographyasanart form,whichexiststilltoday.ThestatesponsoredAsianBiennale,initsentryrules,prohibits thesubmissionofphotographyorvideo. TheFineArtsInstitute,setupbyZainulAbedin, doesn't have photography in its educational program. Not a solitary college in Bangladesh, orShilpakalaAcademy,theacademyoffine andperformingartscurrentlyhasadepartment of photography. Subsequently, there have been two extremely different photographic practices. Pressphotographerswhohavetakenaliteralapproach,seeingthemselvesmoreasillustra-torsthaneitherartists orinterpretivejournalists. Salonphotographers onthe otherhand, have attempted to demonstrate their creative status,whole heartedly grasping pictorialism. Structure has won over substance. Subsequently, neither one of the groups educated the other, norexperimenta-tionwaslimitedtotechniquesofproduction,ratherthananexplorationofideas.Thisalso ledtoariftbetweenthetwogroupswherepressphotographersactivelyrejectedanyother type of photography.