Srabon Reza’s show begins - creative photography in Bangladesh

Srabon Reza’s show begins

Faizul Khan Tanim

The most intriguing part about Srabon’s photography is that his work tries to say something through children’s creativity. He expresses the essence of his inner feelings through the eyes of children. This deliberate depiction was perhaps because the expressions of children always speak the truth…their feelings are unalloyed.

Inaugurated by the eminent intellectual Professor Anisuzzaman and Shykh Seraj, director and head of news, Channel i, this exhibition started on June 06 and will continue until June 19 at the Alliance Francaise Dhaka.

Titled ‘Beyond the dream’, its generic theme is children, and our everyday expressions - joy, love, wrath and even joy of creation as modelled by the little ones. For example, the piece titled ‘making dream’ sports the picture of a little boy constructing his dream-thatched house. The picture threw a powerful real-life idiom ‘as simple as children’s thoughts’ so to say, simple yet deeply meaningful.

Then, there is ‘money maker’, which boldly screams Survival; ‘born free’ - showing the exuberance, the jubilance, the essence of existence that a village kid is trying to find fun in water while diving in a river. Or even in the picture ‘concentration’, where a child seeks to become imaginative and a discoverer. It expresses how we elders can actually start to think simply like children and make our lives less complicated.

Talking to New Age the photographer, Srabon said, ‘it is easier to work with children. Their expressions are unique and the gestures more friendly. And because of such simplicity, the overall compositions of the photographs bloom to a different proportion’.

Almost all the visitors felt that when children have creative control of their life for a while, they learn to look at the world a little differently, like noticing unique patterns, which they never did before. They observe with distinctive perspective, and develop their confidence in their own way.

Photography is essentially a means of not only documenting the past, but also communicating with the present and preparing for the future.

The art of capturing children learning to predict outcomes and expressing themselves as important component of this society - Srabon’s presentation and vivid ideas of turning camera stills into learning about ‘simplicity’ have been amazing. It therefore deserves kudos all the way.