Spaces of Separation
Sarker Protick
St. Paul’s Crypt
Bristol Photography Festival
16 October to 17 November 2024
In recent years, Sarker Protick has been studying the material fragments of empire found across modern-day Bangladesh – a region that was first known as East Bengal, then later East Pakistan, before gaining independence in 1971.
Spaces of Separation speaks to the history of Bengal and the ongoing dance of people, place and power. The project is also about the act of listening itself, understanding how the past is always present, both in the surrounding landscape as well as in the lives of all who are shaped by history. It is a meditation on collective memory and the role it might play in society today.
To see more about this exhibition and the Bristol Photography Festival 2024 visit their website here
(text from Bristol Photography Festival)
His images firstly draw attention to the British railway lines built in the 19th century to connect the rich agricultural lands of East Bengal to the British administrative capital of Calcutta (Kolkata). The trainlines became the lifeblood of the colonial project, allowing the British to effectively manage India as a singular body. Yet within this unifying railway system lay the seeds of colonial collapse. It was the very notion of a pan-Indian identity and political movement – made possible via these new connections – that led to the expulsion of the British in 1947.
The ensuing partition saw communities flee, partly by train, as Bengal was carved in two, with Hindu communities moving west to join the newly independent India, while Muslim communities travelled east to join what became East Pakistan. Bodily metaphors are common when writing about infrastructure – for example, railways as the lifeblood of the nation’s body. Such language demonstrates how seemingly inert structures play an active role in shaping lives and histories.
Elsewhere, Protick focuses upon abandoned Zamindar houses, once occupied by landlords – the middlemen of all empires – who were assigned the task of extracting rent from rural tenants. The system began in the 16th Century under the Mughal Empire which extorted rent from Hindu tenant farmers who grew early commodities including cotton, indigo, rice, wheat and tea. While much of this revenue was passed directly to the centralised government of the Mughal emperor, the Zamindars lived lives of relative luxury, similar to the landed aristocracy of other regions. Upon gaining control of Bengal in 1765, the East India Company quickly consolidated this system of land control, establishing a small but loyal class of Hindu landowners who now ruled over their rural, often muslim tenants. This came to an abrupt end during partition with landlords some of the first to flee. The abandoned Zamindar houses slowly fell into disrepute, to be overtaken by their surroundings.
Installation Images:
Sarker Protick (b. 1986, Bangladesh) is a photographer, lecturer, and curator. He studied at South Asian Media Institute – Pathshala in Dhaka and is currently director of their international program. He is also co-curator of the Chobi Mela Festival, the longest-running photography festival in Asia. His works often thematize the transience of time and focus on Bangladesh and the historic region of Bengal. His work has frequently been shown in international exhibitions as well as winning several fellowships and prizes. Protick was a Foam Talent and received a Magnum Foundation grant. He lives and works in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
More works by Sarker Protick can be found on this site and on his website at
www.sarkerprotick.com
About Bristol Photo Festival
An international biennial of contemporary photography Bristol Photo Festival organises a programme of exhibitions, talks and workshops, bringing together leading photographic voices from across the world. The festival also develops long-term projects in collaboration with local communities.
Their first edition in 2021 drew 200,000 visitors, with 18 exhibitions staged across the city’s museums, galleries and independent spaces. The second edition of the festival, entitled which featured the work of Sarker Protick is titled The World A Wave and ran from October – November 2024.
For more information on the festival visit their website here.
