Ah, wilderness!

The pure wonder of wildness

Inan has tried to sketch the breath of this mangrove forest from within. One feels as if the forest is telling its own story in the photographs and is crying out that its life cycle is at stake. Smuggling and illegal felling of trees along with wild animal hunting are destroying the forest's life cycle. Inan, who had gone to the Sundarbans with his students and family, had a feeling of anticipation and determination. He was struck by what he saw and worked feverishly on his rolls when he returned home.

Inan says, "I've seen many places in the course of my roving but have not come across a forest like this which has survived without preservation. Experts, in working on environment and ecology, have highlighted this, but few have shed light on it for its own sake.

"When I took photographs earlier, they were abstract and based on the urban areas of Bangladesh. I am basically an architect. I made my photographs black and white as I wanted the basics of light and shadow without the cluster of distracting colours. The message is stronger when there is not the blue of the sky or the green of the leaves.

"I took 112 shots in three days, of which I selected 26 to exhibit. In the other shots, I had deviated somewhat from my main subject and had included humans as well. I felt, however, that the trees themselves were overpowering on their own. When in the Sundarbans I was not worried about the wild animals. Returning to Dhaka I felt claustrophobic. I hadn't gone to the Sundarbans with the purpose of having an exhibition, but coming back realised that I'd totally underestimated the beauty and grandeur of the Sundarbans. There were keora, shundari and dhundul. I focused on a single thing: the forest itself. I felt enough had been done about its wildlife."

In the image bearing the title Though I am silent, there is singing around me, one sees a tangle of roots, and branches on the beach, and the long silent line of trees behind, merging with the sky. Sacred trees shows the trees with their upturned roots, the shot being taken from below the branches. The lyricism of bent trunks and branches with their shadows being caught in the water below is seen in The pure wonder of wildness. The mystery of the overwhelming growth of the mangrove trees is seen once more in "The clearest way into the universe is through the forest wilderness."

Inan has been taking photographs since 1966. He has taken part in international photography exhibitions in France, Spain, Italy and Japan.