"Balika": Celebrating the girl child

Photographs at the exhibition

Aly Zaker needs no introduction really; he is best known as a seasoned stage and television personality. Theatre is his first passion, but photography is something that is also close to his heart. He has been taking photographs for as long as he can remember and has participated in group shows in the past.
“If I find an interesting subject, something that pleases the eye, then I take photos; it's a pleasant habit, it helps me to be at ease with myself and uncoil,” Aly said candidly.
The ongoing exhibition at the Art Club gallery in Gulshan (House 4, Road 104) entitled Balika is his first solo foray and is a historical journey of sorts, displaying pictures taken over the last twenty seven years.
As the title suggests, Balika is all about girls, mostly photos of young girls in a rural setting. The subjects in some pictures were completely unaware of being in front of the lens, some however, were very much aware that they were being photographed. Despite having been in the limelight and feeling comfortable behind the lens, Aly confessed that he was nervous at the inauguration. He is quite self-critical, saying, “I'm not a professional photographer and it's really rather late in the day to turn into one.”
It was the natural choice that the well-attended exhibition was inaugurated by Aly's daughter. Aly fondly recounted an anecdote from her eloquent inaugural speech. She had had childhood memories of making frequent stops on family car rides, and realised only much later that her father had been busy clicking away during these breaks! Aly was very touched by his daughter's praise of “the great job he was doing”.
A member of the Royal Photographic Society (London), Aly's first major photographic breakthrough came more than a decade ago, when one of his entries (also of a child; this time, a male), was selected to be part of their 1996 exhibition. Aly received national recognition when the exhibition toured the length and breadth of the UK. Success followed in the late '90s when he contributed nine photos currently on display, to a UNICEF-organised exhibition on the girl child at the Shilpakala Academy. A joint show, Afghanistan -- Blossoming from Destruction with fellow thespian and amateur photographer Shankor Sawjal was held at the Bengal Gallery in 2004. Aly also collaborated on a book entitled Wild Flowers of Bangladesh by famous Bangladeshi photographer Noazesh Ahmed, contributing more than a dozen pictures.
Aly's dream is to remain alive in the Bangladeshi peoples' memories and to this end he is considering further exhibitions. He plans to have another in December on an entirely different subject. Aly's philosophy of “never considering taking photos of anything that seemed unpleasant; of capturing marginalised people in most cases” has taken him a long way.
The exhibition has been extended until September 6.

The writer is a freelance contributor