The New Nation - Internet Edition

Art & Culture Report

Jhal Muri is available on any street corner in the city. This hot spicy mixture will satisfy any snack attack. Five visual artists - one photographer and four painters - took this urge for the street culture in a new direction. The mixture became art - reinterpreting still photos of Bangladesh street life into brush strokes on canvas. The everyday has been captured and transformed, life that is all around us caught in an instant, frozen in time and brought back to life.

The moving photographs of Anil Advani became the inspiration for Ujwala Prabhu, Kuhu Plamondon, Rokeya Sultana and Smita Srivastava. As a result, Radius Centre organized an art and photography exhibition on Bangladesh street culture titled 'Jhaal Muri' at Bay Galleria in Gulshan in the city.

Indian High Commissioner Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty inaugurated the exhibition as chief guest. The 16-day long exhibition was wrapped up on November 23.

Anil said, "A casual meeting of friends, and the idea for this photography or art amalgamation project just happened. The idea of different interpretations of a common photo reference led us on a three-month journey. Armed with a camera and mostly just a single lens, I explored a side of Dhaka that most notice only peripherally. Trigger happy, clicking away at people, scenes and episodes, we combed the streets, the markets and hutments. They, the artists, wanted quick photo references to paint from - I wanted the perfect picture each time! The journey was great fun and as rewarding as the final product."

Choosing street culture as the central theme, the artists wished to promote the positive side of Bangladesh. Searching Dhaka for photo opportunities, from Katabon to Sadarghat, Taanti Bazaar to Ashulia, the pictures were a joint effort. Very appropriately named after the quintessential Bengali street food, 'Jhaal Muri,' a mixture of unlikely ingredients, with a deliciously explosive taste, the artists hoped to achieve a 'mix that would taste nice.' Certainly, they seemed to have reached that goal. Artist Kuhu said, "Using a camera cuts the world short, putting it on a plate and restricting the imagination." While using the photos as a tool, Kuhu re-composed her pictures to capture movements and motion. "I tend to look at subjects as objects of art, as compositions and colour layouts," she said. Kuhu was pleased at having been able to 'use colourful rickshaw art to maintain the gaudiness of street art.