The commuting canvas
You don’t have to venture far in Bangladesh to encounter a rickshaw, the nation’s most popular means of transport. Powered by the pedalling of wallahs (rickshaw men) through rain, hail or shining humidity, rickshaws are truly all purpose vehicles. The number of rickshaws in Dhaka (the capital of Bangladesh) is well over 600,000, and this makes for some stiff competition for business. But the crowds of rickshaw wallahs that glide through intersections and sit poised at shopping mall entrances posses a unique weapon in the conflict for customers — art.
Rickshaws in Bangladesh are decorated from bumper to bell with paintings, engravings, tassels, embroidery and even gold leaf in an attempt to attract customers. The art must be eye-catching but not too elaborate in case it disappears in clouds of exhaust before it can be fully appreciated. And rickshaw art is incredibly diverse as the rickshaw fleet owners, the ‘maliks’, each have their own tastes and budgets. This is contemporary art at its most contemporary: commercial, competitive and on a massive scale.
The centrepieces of these commuting creations are the backboards. The backboards are the largest blank canvases available and painted vibrantly with rural scenes, animals, the rich and the famous, great monuments and religious symbols. The artists that are commissioned to paint these scenes are known as ‘mistris’.
Rickshaw art is not just a form of expression, it’s also highly competitive. The mistris want contracts to decorate rickshaws and the maliks want to own the most elaborate vehicles in their quest to attract customers.
At peak hour in Dhaka you find that as the gridlock closes in, you can just lean back and appreciate the visions of thousands of maliks and the expressions of thousands of mistris that turn the streets into a vibrant canvas in the fading light.
Tagged: Bangledesh, street art
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Mohammad Raihan Mazumder said | 10 June, 2008
Yes… This transport name BABY TAXI. This transfort they make our bangladeshi CULTURAL Painting from bangladeshi commercial painter. Our country have own culture, own design and own idea. If u want to know more about bangladeshi just give me question i can explain you about bangladesh. I want all world know my country. and i also trying to know world. bcoz if we have experience about world. we can do something creative for the world. thank you for keep our bangladeshies art, design, transport photo. welcome bangladesh. but i m living in malaysia. hopefully very soon i will be back bangladesh. I m study in malaysia MULTIMEDIA DESIGN. my stduy will be finished soon. i have plan to do make some more creative design/ work for the world. actually its our world. but we are not longer. so i want give some creative things for the world. before i die…. or after die. my art work people don like now. they don understand what i want making for world. may be after 1000 years later they will know what i did for 3000 years.
raihan
+60172299553
jalan barat, petaling jaya, malaysia.