In a city rarely granted the luxury of silence, Rashed Zaman’s The Quiet Within offers something increasingly precious: a moment to stop.
At Bengal Shilpalay, the acclaimed cinematographer and artist turns away from the restless pulse of urban life towards landscapes where light, memory and solitude seem to exist beyond time.
Organised by Bengal Foundation, the solo visual art exhibition opened on Thursday at the Quamrul Hassan Exhibition Hall. German Ambassador to Bangladesh Dr Rüdiger Lotz inaugurated it as chief guest, while eminent artist Monirul Islam attended as special guest.
The exhibition features around 40 photographs. Look a little longer, and they begin to feel like fragments of silence. A distant boat, a solitary figure, a herd of buffalo or an expansive landscape becomes something more than an image. People rarely dominate Zaman’s frames, yet their presence lingers, woven into the relationship between humans and nature.
Zaman’s visual language has been shaped by his career in architecture, cinema and still photography. His formal training in cinematography has informed a style where space and light carry as much narrative weight as the subject.
His credits include Aynabaji, Desha: The Leader, Dubshatar, Bishaash and last year’s blockbuster Utshob. His work on Aynabaji earned him the Bangladesh National Film Award.
Yet cinema is only part of his creative identity. Painting was his childhood dream, and while the camera became his canvas, a painter’s sensibility remains visible in his restrained use of colour, expansive negative spaces and fascination with light.
“I have always felt that our Creator is the greatest cinematographer, constantly playing with light, and that light has a spiritual influence on our souls,” Zaman said at the inauguration.
Meghdol frontman and artist Shibu Kumar Shil found that quietness in the exhibition. Speaking to The Times of Bangladesh, he said Zaman presents rural Bangladesh from an abstract perspective.
“There are very few people in these photographs, sometimes none at all, but there is always a trace of human presence,” Shil said, describing the works as carrying “a profound silence” rooted in rural Bangladesh.
The exhibition runs until 27 August at Bengal Shilpalay, House 42, Road 27, Dhanmondi, Dhaka, from 4pm to 8pm daily.
