Bengal Institute

AWASH: THE FORCE OF FLOW
CONTINUING THE PHOTOGRAPHIC SERIES FROM THE BOOK “THE GREAT PADMA”

As grand as the river itself, the book “The Great Padma” is a grand collection of photographs from various vantage points, from the aerial to being afloat. Excerpted from the albums of the book, the series here captures those views under “Awash: The Force of Flow”:

“Surging spurting spilling,” the poet Mohammad Rafiq describes the river in his poem Kirtinasha as “…only water, not poison.” Water in the delta comes from rivers and rains in a clockwork rhythm, and often in a tumult, providing the deltaic duality of alluvion and diluvion. Dwelling becomes a paradox in such an alternation. How is one to settle – and how is the registry of land to be administered and taxed – in such a flux when homes, villages and janapads are regularly given to “salil samadhi,” a watery immersion?

“Flow is decisive in the rhythm of Bengal. “Can anything stop this ceaseless soaking? Kirtinasha / will these floods never end? the clouds, the rains? / water streams from your hair, pours down your back / chill shafts of rain pierce your shivering skin.” And again, when the water recedes, “the wind’s hot breath scatters parched red dust / thorny thickets crackle like a blazing oven.” In such turns, especially after the hilsa season, the Padma from a river of abundance turns penurious.

“Rabindranath makes a distinction between the turbulence of a river and the tepidity of a bounded wetland, such as a beel. The river has force and flow because of being bounded by the banks. In a beel, the all-encompassing water remains still, people call it “dumb” water as it has no self-expression or self-realization. Framed by the banks, the river acquires an aural expression; in the boundedness of the river, the flow, sound and form gather beauty. The lives of people depend on the rush of water. People in the villages are not afraid when rain water enters their houses; the water has no flow. But if the water of the Padma enters the villages on the chars, it washes away homes and houses, people and cattle like straw.

“For the boatman of the Padma, the solitary flow of water is all that he needs. Other than the river, everything is an excess. Who needs a variety? Who is looking for changes in the appearance of the Padma? The only obsession is to flow and float on. The seaward flow of water has no pause. Steamers, boats, water hyacinth, birds and clouds in the sky, all are flowing and floating. Watching the bank from the water, it seems that the edge of the land is also slowly moving backwards.

Description derived from multiple texts, including Rabindranath Tagore’s “Chinnapatrabali,” Manik Bandopadhyay’s “Padma Nadir Majhi,” Muhammad Rafiq’s “Kirtinasha,” and an unpublished text by Jesmin Buli. “The Great Padma: The Epic River that made the Bengal Delta,” was published by ORO Editions and Bengal Institute in 2023.

PARTICIPANTS' WORKS FROM THE WORKSHOP
“CRAFTED IMAGINATION”

We are delighted to share this visual journey from the “Crafted Imagination” workshop, led by renowned artist and designer Chandra Shekhar Shaha. Participants of diverse disciplines, from English literature to public health, explored the process of making through poems, drawings and objects.

Over six sessions, participants moved from poem to sketch, from sketch to material, and from material to object. From an opening act of sharing, the sessions unfolded slowly and deliberately — exploring how poetry is not only the language of words, but a way of living, imagining, and creating. Participants worked with their hands, discovering that every gesture of making carries its own poetic language. Alongside handmade objects derived from their chosen poems, they each undertook a second work: the transformation of a familiar, personal, or old object — finding in it new meaning and new form.

The final presentation and discussion were attended by Prof. Kazi Khaleed Ashraf, Architect Saif Ul Haque, Architect Jalal Ahmed, and Architect Nusrat Sumaiya, along with a few other invited guests.

Credit goes to all participants of the workshop:
Jahanara Ahmad, Nazrana Khaled, Habiba Akther Lubna, Nafisa Afrin Iqbal, Hafsa Binta Azad, and Nazneen Sultana Nisu.

Here is a glimpse of the final presentation and participants' works.

ADRIFT: A RIVER WITHOUT BANKS
CONTINUING THE PHOTOGRAPHIC SERIES FROM THE BOOK “THE GREAT PADMA”

As grand as the river itself, the book “The Great Padma” is a grand collection of photographs from various vantage points, from the aerial to being afloat. Excerpted from the albums of the book, the series here captures those views under “Adrift: A River Without Banks”:

“Songs after songs about the Padma decry the terror of a river that is often without banks. What was once a bank finds itself gifted to the water in other seasons. The elusive ekool and okool – this bank and the other – are constant refrains in the songs and meditations of the boatman. Adrift in a terrain of wind and water, such strains about inconstancy and unreliability are natural fodder for deeper existential musings. The baul mystic Lalon adds an ominous dimension to crossing the mystic river: O naiya (boatman) of the many-hued boat, how will you row / In the bends of the river are many crocodiles.

“In a country of rivers, land is an island, and water is perpetual. Life and economy are about boats of all kinds, from the solitary to the twenty member bajra – boats are everything. Everyone needs a boat. Boats are more than a vessel of transport; they are lived and motile spaces in an oceanic expanse.

“Adrift in the infinitude of the Padma, a boatman on his boat is an existential unit. As a natural geographer, the boatman has accumulated generations of knowledge in navigating that oceanic river: he understands the subtle as well as spectacular rhythms of the water. In the plenitude of the Padma, the boatmen speak to each other across the vastness in a language that no one other than the boatmen understands. There are no words there, only a vibration of sound. The boatman becomes an embodiment of the river’s vibration.”

Description derived from multiple texts including Rabindranath Tagore’s “Chinnapatrabali,” Manik Bandopadhyay’s “Padma Nadir Majhi,” and Muhammad Rafiq’s “Kirtinasha,” and unpublished text by Jesmin Buli. “The Great Padma: The Epic River that made the Bengal Delta,” was published by ORO Editions and Bengal Institute in 2023.