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Ekushey Padak-winning  photographer Nasir Ali Mamun said Bangladesh remains a ‘no man’s land’ in the world art landscape for the lack of an art market along with few opportunities, especially for camera artists.

The celebrated photographer in a recent interview with ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ· talked about his journey as a portrait photographer, his literary works, and his future plan.  

‘Camera is an illusion, a magic box, which I first came across in 1963 at the age of 10 at a commercial photographic studio named Studio Neha on Green Road in Dhaka. My family was then living in that neighbourhood. Once inside the studio with a world of curiosity in my mind, I found myself in a trance with the smell of darkroom chemicals, lights, and makeup materials,’ said Mamun.

He went on: ‘Though I have been interested in studio work, I didn’t like retouches on portraits -- because I always dreamt of portraying the natural face of a person,’ adding that he was able to click his first photograph in 1966 at Dhanmondi with a rented Yashica-D Medium format 120 Film Camera while he was accompanying his brother Saif Ali Khan.

Mamun disclosed that he started photography with the aim to capture portraits of famous persons while he had been collecting such portraits published in newspapers since his boyhood.

‘I regularly read newspapers in my boyhood to collect portraits from them, mostly taken by Amanul Haque, Naib Uddin Ahmed, and Nowazesh Ahmed. I also liked to read history, biographies, and autobiographies -- putting school textbooks aside -- and this habit helped me in choosing specific personalities for taking their photographs,’ said Mamun.

Mamun founded an organisation titled Nabarun Kishore Sangha as early as 1963, which he also led. Nabarun shared books, organised sports, and practiced amateur photography from 1968 until the War of Independence in 1971.

Mamun, as an amateur photographer, covered many political events, including rallies, meetings, and movements, since 1966. He captured an iconic photograph of a funeral event on March 3, 1971 attended by top leaders of the then democratic movement, including Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Syed Nazrul Islam, Tajuddin Ahmed, Muhammad Mansur Ali, and AHM Qamaruzzaman beside the Baitul Mukarram mosque.

‘I was quite aware that my photography approach was different from that of photojournalists. On March 3, I rented a camera from Studio Neha and went out to capture images of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman whom I found standing in front of a microphone by a funeral event for some student activists killed in police firing with his hands raised in supplication for the deceased,’ said Mamun.

The distinguished photographer also took images of the March 7 historical speech of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at the Ramna Racecourse -- now Suhrawardy Udyan -- in 1971.

Mamun was arrested, along with his father, by the Pakistani Army during the War of Independence and after the war victory he started photographing the portraits of writers, poets, and artists of Bangladesh.

He was imprisoned for 15 days for taking photos of a protest rally against the Mujib government in 1974.

‘The Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal-Jasod on March 17, 1974 was going to submit a memorandum to the then home minister of the Mujib government at the minister’s residence on Minto Road at Ramna in Dhaka. More than 24 Jasod leaders and activists were killed in firing by members of the then Jatiya Rakkhi Bahini [a special militia raised under the direction of Sheikh Mujib] and I was arrested with the camera, which I also rented from Studio Neha,’ reminisced Mamun. He was sent to the central jail at the age of 21 and thus had the opportunity to share a prison room with poet Al Mahmud. 

Mamun’s first published photograph was a portrait of Palli Kabi [rural poet] Jasim Uddin, which was published in a weekly Bichitra magazine feature on him in April 1976 after his death.     

‘My first solo photography exhibition was held at Bangla Academy in February, 1977. It displayed 66 portraits of writers and poets. The exhibition drew huge appreciation and following that show more than 30 exhibitions of that series were held in different districts of the country,’ said Mamun.

On August 29, 1977,  Nazrul Academy held a solo exhibition of Mamun’s                                photographs of the National Poet of Bangladesh Kazi Nazrul Islam titled ‘Dhakay Nazrul (Nazrul in Dhaka)’ to mark his first death anniversary. 

Mamun followed and captured the portraits of a wide range of famous personalities, including Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Maulana Bhashani, Kazi Nazrul Islam, Qazi Motahar Hossain, SM Sultan, Shamsur Rahman, Al Mahmud, Professor Muhammad Yunus, Humayun Ahmed, Allen Ginsberg, Gunter Grass.

Till now, Mamun has organised 63 solo exhibitions of photographic images he has captured.

An interesting feature of Mamun’s portrait photography has been that he was not satisfied with one-off images. Over time, he followed his subjects and took photos of their changing faces.

‘To work on portraits over a long time was interesting to me because people, especially creative and thinking types, do not stay the same as time passes. Their faces go through changes like nature and I find it quite fascinating to observe the changes and capture their facial changes in my camera,’ said the veteran camera artist.

Mamun also expressed his thoughts and ideas in writing, painting, and interviews with distinguished people he collected. He has to his credit more than 17 titles, including novels, on articles, interviews, short stories, and also photo collections.

Recently, Mamun has established ‘Photoseum’, his dream institution that is like a museum, which he intends will preserve his entire works, including audios, videos, and other creations. 

‘I need financial support to build the museum. Though some people joined me in discussing the project, nothing concrete or sufficient came up till now in terms of how much fund the project would need to complete. You see, the implementation of Photoseum, as I imagined it, would require at least 12core taka initially. I hope I will be able to fulfil the dream with the help of art lovers, patrons, and the government,’ said Mamun.

‘Bangladesh has now turned into a ‘no man’s land’ in the world of art due lack of opportunities, support, proper nurturing of art and artists in the country,’ observed Mamun.

At 72, Mamun believes that it may take another 20 to 30 years for a complete and sustainable art market to grow in Bangladesh.    

‘Photography is one of the latest visual art mediums and though Bangladeshi photographers have achieved many international awards, the country is yet to set any academic or professional recognition for photography,’ observed Mamun, adding that Bangladeshi photographers work hard despite many limitations and uncertainties. 

Mamun said that photographers, too, like other artists, writers, and poets should go for self-reflection, introspection, and they must stay away from immoral practices.

Born in 1953, Mamun has been honoured with various prestigious awards for his work. This year, he received Ekushey Padak, the second highest civilian award in Bangladesh for his contribution in the field of photography. Besides, he won Shilpakala Padak in 2017 and was honoured with the lifetime achievement award from Chobi Mela in its ninth edition also in 2017.