Alternative art camp with a difference

An art camp where ideas and skills came together

This camp gave an opportunity for the exchange of ideas among artistes and non-artists. This camp tried to find an approach towards self-realisation.'

Asked to elaborate about the camp, Sharafi said, 'There were architects and doctors working along with artists and actors. Thus the participants came from different disciplines who created art work according to their individual perspectives. Some people dealt with garments, others with architectural tools and so on. My own works were based on cooking and I used that for visual communication. I didn't cook with real food but with different materials and created different recipes out of different materials, like taking colours from an image to create a dish out of it. I tried to go deep into the cooking process.'

Talking about how the people were to understand the working of the camp, Sharafi said that people had to read into the concepts of the artists which were written on the charts hanging in Alliance Francaise Gallery or at "Chitrak". The public could question the artists on their work.

When told that the displays were rather complicated, Sharafi said that it was not an art show to enjoy at the surface level -- one had to penetrate the work and understand the intention of the artist. There were the works of well-known artists like Hamiduzzaman, who had done his installation in the 1970s (dealing with Urir Char). Wakilur Rahman, who lives in Germany, had sent a collection of photographs on the basis of Leonardo Da Vinci's concept of the human figure, while Aminul Islam's painting contained fragmented mirror pieces. There was also the work by Dhali al Mamun. To this were added ideas dealing with the garment industry, movement against violence and cartoons.

Sharafi said that the reason he wanted to hold the art camp was because when he left the art college in the mid -1970s, many aspects of art remained unexplained.He searched for an alternative process in moving towards a more creative world rather than skill-based work. This camp, he said, was based on the concept of creativity, moving away from decoration and beautification. Here was a place where ideas and skills came together.

Saiful Haque, a well-known architect, remarked about the project, 'This was an interesting opportunity to express feelings and thoughts within a short period of time. The idea behind the exercise was that each artist would work for a week then the viewers would see and experience the piece of art. I myself have chosen to illustrate a space and its use in an area of the under-construction building near Chitrak. I called my work 'A wish list'.'

Nisar Hussain, one of the organisers of the camp, said, 'The art camps that have been held before in Bangladesh have been more like picnics. The artists met, ate, worked and came away. It was not clear why the camps had been held. In contrast, there was a definite vision behind this camp. People from different fields, who had artistic leanings found a space to express themselves. There was then an interaction between the people who took part. This included artists, actors and various other creative people. Among our objectives was to show that art was not an expensive affair that required a huge budget. There were 26 participants and they worked till July 23.'

'We all learnt from each other. The camp made the artist stop and think twice about what he was doing,' said Shishir Bhattacharya, the well-known cartoonist. Andrew Jenkins, from the Bangladesh Water Development Board, added,'The concepts were very interesting and moving, especially the sculptural installation based on Urir Char, portraying the devastation wrought by cyclones.'