May 2021- April 2022
A series of projects titled প্রান্তিকের প্রাকৃতজন- Prantiker Prakritajon (people living in the margins) with the communities living mostly in the borderlines between Bangladesh and India as well as coastal areas are being organised over the last 12 years, a task as can be well understood as being much challenging and risky in terms of its implementation.

Most of the locations did not have electricity, running water or toilet facilities while we visited years ago. But there were various resources of mineral, limestone or finest ceramic clay etc. As a result, the naive inhabitants are victimized or exploited by the mainstream traders for years. They could not protect their landscapes, own properties or home. Nothing could stop those traders and eventually their nature, environment and lifestyle are threatened.

Between 2021-2011 we followed a route to revisit 7 overlooked ethnic communities across the country.

As part of revisits, we had a curatorial team to arrange a series of exhibitions with images and videos from previous travels setting up temporary exhibition spaces using bamboos that were opened to the villagers. They gathered and memorized the old days.

Our research team recorded the stories and collected the recipes of the traditional food from each community snicking to the kitchens randomly. A one-year journey & recipe book will be published from the Lumbung Press.

Imposing Bangla as a main language to these ethnic communities over the years also have become a major issue that is never addressed by the mainstream communities.

Our Audio-Visual team documented mainly the socio-political issues as well as the imposed pressure on the landscapes. The social crisis, environmental issues and land rights are the major issues what we tried to focus on via a three-channel film and the photographs. The hill that we saw earlier has become a huge lake because of the lime stones collected for the construction, the white clay hills are only big holes now, the old forest have become echo park or social park with new trees, even the global warming effected the mangrove forest at the coastal areas.

RESEARCH & AUDIO-VISUAL TEAM

Ashim Halder Sagor
Mohosin Kabir
Mahbubur Rahman
Emdadul Hoque Topu
Shimul Saha
Md. Khairul Alam
Shahriar Shaon
Tayeba Begum Lipi

VENUES & COMMUNITIES

Madhupur Forest, Tangail: Mandi Community
Durgapur, Netrokona: Hajong Community
Godagari, Rajshahi: Oraon & Santal Community
Chhatak Sunamganj, Sylhet: Monipuri Community
Rangabali, Potuakhali : Rakhain Community
Khagrachhori: Tripura Community
Ali Kadam, Bandarban: Mro Community