Dhaka’s rickshaws and rickshaw paintings

Rickshaw painting is another dimension of painting, which refers to images painted in bright colours, capable of representing content in a very lively way. This type of painting is generally found on the back of the rickshaws, on the bonnet and on small accessories. Experts prefer to talk about folk art, pop art or handicrafts. According to them, any object has two aspects called "form" and "decoration", but rickshaw painting is only one type of "decoration". According to the painters, the lines or stripes in rickshaw paintings are very fluid, bright and clear, and the strokes are small and perfect. However, there is no specific institutional training for this particular type of painting, just like the country's handicrafts. Artists learn this art through personal motivation and draw these images from their own imagination.

After the partition of the country back in 1947, a non-institutional style also developed alongside the institutional artistic style. It was led by Pitalram Sur, RK Das, Alauddin, Ali Noor, Dawood Ustad and other artists.The country's cinema banner painting, rickshaw art, truck art, etc. were developed by these artists outside the traditional genre. Among them, rickshaw painting has already attracted Sudheen's special attention at home and abroad due to its own artistic style, mode of presentation and content.

The main aim of rickshaw painting is to make the rickshaw elegant and attractive. Artists generally paint according to the demands of lenders and buyers. They usually use enamel paint. The artists can be found in several locations in the capital, including Bakshibazar, Beribandh, Mohammadpur, Zhigatla, Mirpur, Jatrabari and Gulistan. Just as they paint new rickshaws, they also paint old ones with rubber paint. But over the last 50 years, rickshaw paintings have been done on different subjects. For example, in the 1960s, rickshaw paintings were mainly based on portraits of big movie stars. When the government banned the painting of people on rickshaws in the mid-1970s, rickshaw painters began to paint animals rather than people.

For example, a fox controls traffic, a tiger walks along the road, a rabbit goes to school with a bag over its shoulder like a schoolboy. The rickshaws are also painted with images of various myths and religious legends. For example, the Duldul of Muslim legend, Borak, the vehicle of Miraj Gaman, or Aladdin's marvellous lamp and monster, the princess, the royal palace, etc.

The image of Shilpacharya Zainul Abedin's cart stuck in the mud, known as "Sangram", has been painted in various ways by rickshaw pullers. Foreign scenes such as two Bedouins driving camels in the desert or a boy playing on an unknown beach, a house in Japan, London Bridge, the Eiffel Tower, the Titanic ship, etc. also appeared in the rickshaw shooters' photos. Memorials, Parliament buildings, Shaheed Minar, etc. have often been the subject of architectural rickshaw images. Another popular subject of Mughal architecture is the rickshaw painting of the Taj Mahal. Bangabandhu Bridge is another favourite subject for rickshaw pullers these days. Also, the lungs fighting dinosaurs are bare-skinned Bengalis - a sign of the wonderful imagination of rickshaw pullers. In the post-independence period, the rickshaw image shows the liberation war's face-off with Pakistani forces, the torture and murder of Bangladeshi men and women by Pakistani soldiers, victory celebrations and so on.

In the 1970s, when Dhaka began to develop as the new capital of the new country, scenes of imaginary cities were painted on rickshaws. In addition, images of village life and natural landscapes have always been, and still are, painted. There are also different styles of flowers, birds and so on.The influence of the Lokayat style, particularly in the use of lines, is most apparent in rickshaw painting. Again, rickshaw painters paint pictures based on different calendars or printed images. But in rickshaw painting, particularly in the choice of colours, the work of cinema banner painters has been significantly influenced. Recently, art workshops have been organised jointly by institutional artists and rickshaw painters. The influence of rickshaw painting can also be seen in the work of some institutional artists. Rickshaw paintings in Bangladesh have been around since the 1950s, and attempts have been made to depict almost every possible part of a rickshaw. As well as geometric designs, flowers, birds and even folk heroes and heroines were also in vogue. Sometimes the rickshaw pullers' religious beliefs were reflected in the rickshaw images, sometimes it was simply a speech or a social issue.

In 1988, the Museum of Mankind (now part of the British Museum) in London organised a special exhibition of rickshaw paintings from Dhaka, curated by Shirin Akbar, entitled "Traffic Art: Rickshaw Paintings from Bangladesh". The British Museum also has a collection of well-decorated and illustrated rickshaws from Bangladesh. The Fukuoka Asian Art Museum in Japan also has a special exhibition on rickshaw paintings from Bangladesh, and this museum has a large collection of rickshaw paintings. Recently (2013), at an art festival in Takamatsu, Japan, rickshaw paintings from Bangladesh were exhibited with special attention. An exhibition of rickshaw paintings from Bangladesh was also held in Nepal. However, the largest exhibition of rickshaw paintings in Bangladesh was held in 1999 at the Alliance Française in Dhaka. The exhibition featured the work of 500 rickshaw painters and 83 babytaxi (two-stroke autorickshaw) painters.

However, it was found that Dhaka's rickshaw painters, who are still active, depend mainly on foreign buyers. Although foreign interest has been taken into account, it does not seem to have significantly changed the lives of the rickshaw pullers, with a few rare exceptions. On the contrary, this style of painting is now threatened by the widespread use of digital printing as an alternative to hand-painted plates. Rickshaw painters threatened by the profession. Most rickshaw painters have already changed careers or found other work. There are currently 10 to 12 rickshaw painters working in Dhaka. Outside Dhaka, other rickshaw painters work to a greater or lesser extent in the towns of Rajshahi, Comilla, Jessore, Khulna, Pabna, Mymensingh, Chittagong and so on.

Dhaka's rickshaws and rickshaw paintings have been included on the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation's (UNESCO) list of immeasurable cultural heritage.

This worldwide recognition came on Wednesday at the meeting of the Interstate Council of the Convention on the Conservation of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, currently being held in Kasane, Botswana. The rickshaw and rickshaw painting of Dhaka have been recognised as the fifth "immeasurable cultural heritage" of Bangladesh, after the art of Jamdani weaving, the art of Shital Pati weaving, the Baul song and the Mangal procession. Rickshaw painting, which has been in existence for eight decades, has been recognized by UNESCO as a world heritage site.

According to UNESCO, as rickshaw is a slow-moving vehicle, its decorations are easily noticed by passersby. Rickshaw has, therefore, become an exhibition in motion. The rickshaw is a symbol of urban life in Dhaka. This art form has been the subject of exhibitions, festivals and even films. Rickshaws and their paintings are now considered an important part of the city's cultural heritage and a type of popular urban art.

In fact, rickshaw painting is very important as a particular type or style – not only in the history of Bangladesh’s painting, but also in the history of world art. The disappearance of this style would mark the end of an important style in the history of world art. But there is hope, as we recently heard about rickshaw painting in Bangladesh.

The ‘Rickshaw Paint’ initiative is one of them. It aims to work with artists involved in rickshaw painting to give them their rightful place and, through this platform, to bring together artists and buyers of rickshaw paintings. The aim of this platform is to create high-quality rickshaw paintings, to create and supply paintings according to customers' needs and preferences, and to introduce this art sector to the country at large. Another initiative in favour of rickshaw-pullers is ‘Rickshaw Art’. This platform aims to ensure that the artists involved get real value for their artworks and to create a platform for the welfare of artists.

The writer is a columnist, and Geneva-based financial crime compliance specialist for private sector banking.