RICKSHAW ART IN BANGLADESH

Posted by: frrushdi on: November 4, 2008

In: Random
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The word ‘rickshaw’ comes from a Japanese word ‘jin-ricksha’ meaning ‘vehicle’ In Bangladesh, almost every square inch of the frame, hood and seat of the rickshaw is decorated. These large tricycles exhibit a blaze of colors. Every inch of the decorations are traced around cardboard patterns, and then cut from bright colored plastic in bright pink, yellow, blue, green, silver and gold, or painted on tinplate in the case of panels for the pleasure of the eyes. The overall view of this vehicle looks amazing with a set of moving pictures that emerge at a random within multi-dimensional perspective.

The decorative paintings on the seat covers or on the back plates are indefinable example of Bangladesh traffic art. Among thousands of painted rickshaws in Bangladesh most images represent a dream world drawn from cinema, advertising and other popular media; they conjure up an urban fantasy of a peaceful and prosperous Bangladesh full of skyscrapers, brilliant colors, beautiful women and dashing heroes. Rural scenes are also very popular, such as waterfalls, snow-capped mountains, chickens, cows, ducks, palm trees, water lilies and boats sailing across rivers and lakes. The multiple images of rickshaw painting represent a wide view towards Bangladesh-its dreams, past present and the thoughts.

About 500,000 rickshaws move around Dhaka city alone and its drivers are usually migrant workers from rural areas driven to the capital for work.

There are variations in rickshaw art in different towns of Bangladesh. For example: nearly eighty per cent of rickshaws in Dhaka city are decorated and most of them have animal scenes, natural scenes, and pictures of movie themes. Chittagong and Comilla areas show less enthusiasm about decorating rickshaws and the rickshaw art there contain fewer human images and have more images of flowers, birds, animals etc. Rickshaws in Sylhet, considered to be a more pious area, are rarely decorated.

The rickshaw painters also follow the tradition of the Mughals riding elephants or horses. The hood protects travelers from the sun and rain as representing umbrellas of Mughal times. The bells represent “ghungru” worn around the neck or feet of those elephants or horses on a heavy band who carried travelers. The recent phenomenon of the plates was borned in the 1950’s but the body of the rickshaw had Islamic influence from the Mughal times. Today as rickshaw is used by the masses the paintings are simplistic and easy to identify.

The art of rickshaw painter is passed on from ustad, master, to apprentice. Its decorators and painters usually form a specific group and through beautiful colors give this uncomfortable man driven vehicle a symbolic identity. Where they are usually located? When I researched to locate a few I had to go to Cheragali near Tongi area to know more about these beautiful arts blending with our country.

I discovered from there how the decoration begins when an assembled rickshaw frame is delivered to the rickshaw mistri who builds the seat with wood and enclosed the shiny aluminium. Another helps paint floral patterns on to the frame, wraps brightly colored plastic around iron ornaments are added, and the overall effect is brilliant. The centre pieces of the display are of course the paintings which appear on the black plate of the vehicle and on the seat cover. Plates are ordered from proper rickshaw artist. These plates are often signed by the painter.

Rickshaw painters usually work within the family circle provides natural “assistants” and “little hands”. Therefore the professional practice and customer’s portfolio is transmitted naturally between siblings and relatives. The most established painters usually paint exclusively for one big malik-the rickshaw garage owner – or one mistri as their main customer. The demand for their work is massive: 200 plates in one month, for example: Smaller painters will sell to different mistris and shops on Bangshal Road.

Abudullah (age 32) says “The bright paintings are actually commercialized these days hen asked one of painters the reply was “we do it for food, it usually commercial can’t afford to practice it for ourselves. Some objects are repeatedly through the mass-production process: the Taj mahal, monuments of Bangladesh, village scenery.”

Rickshaw painters use tools like brushes and enamel colors. They paint on tin sheets and colors they use are not easy to mix: this is one of the reasons why they use primary colors. However it seems that the painters differ in their practice by their painting attitude and the painting surrounding environment. The rickshaw painter usually sits quietly on a chair in front of his painting lit by the sunbeam that comes down from the light well of the traditional home he sometimes owns; the back of his body turned away from domestic activity. They support bamboo stick to support the hand and keep it steady.

Between the allegoric and naïve, the stylized paintings, like children’s drawings do not show any shadow and as such represent some kind of archetypes, caricatures. Depicting “happiness in fragments” they speak about heavenly gardens where water flows, about peaceful villages and rural activities; they speak of a town without traffic and of a multitude of visages where gentlemen and ladies are heroes and heroines. In that sense they act as images of relaxation of leisure, peace and happiness. One may notice that in the village scenes, there is no connection between the different subjects. However, what is also extremely interesting is that these images do not seem to pretend to give a direct message! Given the exceptional concentration of rickshaws in Dhaka it is surprising that rickshaw paintings have not been used to support advertising or political campaigns .Then is it the sign of not recognizing the rickshaw panting medium to influence the public opinion and it is used to reveal the independence of mind? It is true that in contrast to feudalism of the rickshaw word artists have safeguarded a certain integrity and freedom of expression.

Nowadays screen-printing an aggressive industrial process is gradually substituting the hand-made painting, generally for the most popular topic: movies. Until 1998 one plate out of three was printed since then the monopoly is total. With the arrival of screen printing, screen printed movie plates are monopolizing the market. Again the overall system has been impoverished by the disappearance of the best painters and reduction of themes.