Kalpana’s Warriors

30 JANUARY TO 2 MARCH

ART AND AESTHETIC

Kalpana’s Warriors, created by the Bangladeshi photographer-cum-activist Shahidul Alam, is a twilit memorial to Kalpana Chakma, an indigenous-rights activist from the Pahari tribal community. Chakma has not been seen since 1996, when she was abducted by the Bangladeshi military. Twenty years after this tragedy, Alam presents a series of laser-etched photo portraits of people who have continually questioned the government’s complicity in Chakma’s disappearance. The images are printed on the straw matting that Pahari people traditionally sleep on. Alam charred these canvasses, evoking the burning of Pahari villages that has often occurred in Bangladesh.

The exhibit is chilling in its serenity; the only light in the room comes from candles, each hanging alone from the ceiling to minimally illuminate an individual portrait. The portraits’ subjects display a diversity of ages and appearances, but are united by their poses: each looks stoically into the distance. Further into the exhibit, these portraits give way to a series of photographic prints that highlight abuses against the Pahari community. One particularly gruelling image depicts a ramshackle police headquarters where executions and torture often occurred.

~ Charlie Mitchell