Chobi Mela VSnapping in the dark

Towheed Feroze

Dhaka Feb 11 (bdnews24.com)—Partha Pratim Sadhu's intriguingly titled show 'Devoid of Gentlemen', part of Chobi Mela V, unearths the quiet night life dwelling under the urban bustle and angst of city living.

"Well, maybe instead of living the word existing would be more appropriate," says Khademul Insan, a freelance photographer and avid follower of the International Festival of Photography, Bangladesh 2009.

And, most of us may be inclined to agree. After all, with so many hassles and so much hustle, living in a city is often just about functioning, and forgetting to breathe in the essence of life.

But then, a city like Dhaka is also pulsing with life, day and night.

For Partha Pratim Sadhu, the preferred time to probe into city life is night, when the juggernaut of urban anxiety comes to a halt. His time to snap is when three quarters of the city is lost in sleep.

Under the cover of dark, his camera clicks and unmasks human life, shining in the half-light, lost in semi shadow or content in the surrealism of the city at night.

The show at Goethe Institut presents the works by placing them on top of lighted boxes. The idea is relatively novel here – accentuating the minute details that add drama and life.

The presentation is good for lay people who might otherwise overlook the small element that makes a simple work sublime.

And, in case you were wondering, the photographer leaves out the so-called 'gentlemen' of the city who populate a more urbane Dhaka by day.

He captures the rickshaw-puller, the midnight worker who unloads the concrete for the urban grandeur to soar, the lone tea-seller and the vegetable carrier.

They belong not to the daytime grind, but a different time, a night time city, a time when Dhaka is not suffocating under its urban dreams, but floating in the dark.

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