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Chobi
Mela starts in city Pierre’s photos on
display
By : Robab Rosan
November 22, 2002, Holiday |
As a part of Chhabi Mela-ll, Dr. Pierre Claquin’s
fourth solo photographic exhibition, titled
Surviving Dreams: the Struggling Circuses of
Bangladesh, began on November 17 at the gallery
of Alliance Française in the city. Enam
Ul Haque inaugurated the exhibition, which will
run up till December 2.
In this exhibition, Pierre has displayed 45
black and white photographs on the performers
of the seven circus parties across the country.
The idea of working with these neglected professional
groups came to Pierre’s mind when he searched
for a powerful image to give the message of
polio eradication to the rural people. Pierre
said, ‘In 2000 when I started to ask the
educated urban bhadroloks about the existence
of circuses in Bangladesh, I was told that they
were gone, finished by the introduction of television
in rural areas.’ He continued, ‘Being
a French Breton, notorious for their stubbornness,
I went out to find out for myself. There were
ten circuses in Bangladesh still active by mid-2002,
some bigger than others but all struggling against
the bureaucracy, official corruption and, at
times, prejudice. Too many circuses are undergoing
financial distress.’ In this exhibition,
the photographer has highlighted the sorry plight
of these under-privileged people and presented
them as persons too.
Pierre Claquin, a French physician, came to
Bangladesh first in 1972. He stayed and worked
a year in Sariakandi, Bogra. Later, he came
in 1975 and stayed three years as a WHO staff
of the small pox eradication programme. He again
came to Bangladesh in 1980 to work for the ICDDR,B
for three years in 1980 and for ADB-financed
Urban Primary Health Care Project for two years
in 1998. He has been staying in the country
since May, 1999 for the US-funded Immunisation
and Other Child Health Project.
Pierre is an amateur photographer who has been
working in this field from the age of 16 or
17. He arranged his first ever photo exhibition
in October, 2000, displaying 45 black and white
portraits of Bangladeshi people at the Alliance
Française. The exhibition was also held
in Chittagong in January, 2001. His second photo
exhibition titled The Eastern Gallery of Berlin
Wall was arranged at the Goethe Institut in
2001 in Dhaka. There he displayed some colour
photographs of the Berlin Wall during its collapse.
The third photography exhibition of Pierre,
titled The Changing Faces of Sariakandi: 1972-2002,
was held in April this year at the Alliance
Française. The exhibition was also held
at Sariakandi where a huge number of rural viewers
came to the show. He tried to demonstrate, through
that exhibition, how the people and places were
changing day by day.
Pierre Claquin’s current exhibition is
showing the circus people through 34 black and
white photos selected from the 85 he has taken.
He has a plan to publish a book on the past
and present of the circus groups and their performers.
‘In Bangladesh I find many interesting
subjects, full of variety’, he said. ‘I
want to give messages of polio eradication through
circus people because many rural people come
to enjoy the circus.’
‘I think the photos in black and white
help the viewers to concentrate on the subject.
I also think that the black and white photos
are more sober.’ He added, ‘Colour
can be more distracting. Whether I work in colour
or black and white depends on the subject on
which I work.’
Pierre Claquin did not face any obstruction
either from the local people or the circus people.
He started his work on them just one and a half
years ago. He tried to give two messages through
his exhibition. ‘I want to tell the people
of Bangladesh that they should support these
circus groups, which are still a part of Bengal’s
culture’.
He further said, ‘I also request the civil
authorities to be more cooperative to them.’
‘I am very impressed at works of Bangladeshi
photographers. There are many talented photographers
in the country.’ Pierre considers the
subject of a photo more important than the technical
aspects but he also thinks that adequate technique
is needed.
‘I am fully aware of the limitations of
an outsider or foreigner presenting his Bangladeshi
viewers with his work, but still it does not
prevent me trying to do it.’ The photographer
has worked on seven currently active circus
groups across the country — the Lakshmi
Narayan Circus, Lion Circus, Sonar Bangla Circus,
Rowshan Circus, Rajmahal Circus, Royal Bengal
Circus and the New Star Circus. |
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