Faith and Identity

Photographs by Sujan and Jahangir

One of the participants of Common Ground, British photographer Jagtar Semplay, recently came to Bangladesh and conducted a workshop at the British Council. The workshop aimed at creating interest in discovering similar concepts in Bangladesh. Taking the theme Faith and Identity, Semplay taught new dimensions to Bangladeshi young photographers, who later took photographs on the subject according to their own interpretation and philosophical comprehension.

The exhibition, as a whole, however, seems quite carelessly composed. Except for a few works, most of the photographs do not clearly conform to the idea of 'faith and identity'. Tanvir, a photographer and coordinator of Semplay's workshop, thinks that the experiment with taking photographs of a preconceived subject instead of rather taking pictures and then composing a photo-story might be the principal reason for this. 'Generally we take photographs of whatever we come to like, and then we select pictures and compose an idea,' he says. 'But since the subject was determined beforehand, many of the photographers, who are young in age, became confused as to what aspects of the country they should choose.'

Sujan's photographs especially attract attention for their slight philosophical tone. The photographs present all the artiste's subjects through a pair of glasses--Sujan's own. 'The technique helps me in relating the fact that these are all my perception, things are seen through my eyes,' says the young photographer of Map Photo Agency.

Among other works, Parsha Sanjana Monalisa's composition of different persona of a woman, Jahangir's presentation of man's religiosity, Khaled's pictures of people's busy life at Sadarghat contain some substance.