Ballads of the Agonised Souls

Photo exhibition on thalassaemia at Zainul Gallery
Images at the exhibition, titled “Ballads of the Agonised Souls,” are quite expressive with smiling faces of children, but a strange silence pervades on the whole. The photographs explore the lives — little joys and agonies — of thalassaemia patients in our country.
Thalassaemia is an inherited blood disorder by which the body is unable to produce adequate haemoglobin in red cells of blood. Normally red cells survive for 120 days. But thalassaemia-affected red cells survive less than that. If parents are thalassaemia carriers their children may become diseased. Persons born with thalassaemia suffer from chronic anaemia. As a result their growth is stunted and without any treatment they usually die by the age of 5.
Thalassaemia is not seen everywhere in the world. It is concentrated in south-east Asia and Mediterranean region. Every year over 250 millions people are affected by thalassaemia and 100,000 thalassaemia majors (carriers) are born across the world. According to a publication of World Health Organization (WHO) roughly 11.2 million people are thalassaemia carriers and 7,483 children are born with the disease every year with expected 374,154 living patients.
Photographer Noor Alam has been documenting young thalassaemia patients for the last two years. The collection is a combination of some portraits and still life images of the young ones. The children, seemingly full of life, are put in settings that indicate an ominous circumstance — most photographs show the subjects alone.
Noor Alam’s intension was to explore the real scenario. According to him, “The battle against thalassaemia cannot be fought alone. A social movement is required to uproot the disease, involving the government, media, and physicians, along with the parents of the patients. My effort is just to be a part of this cohesive battle.”
In one photograph, a little boy, looking coy, carries something. The image employs the play of light and shade. Another image shows a little girl’s smiling face, light illuminates her forehead. Another photo features a four/five year old girl laughing with one of her knuckles in her mouth. They are all thalassaemia patients. The images — reminders of how precious these smiles are.
“Ballads of the Agonised Souls” is now on at the Zainul Gallery, Faculty of Fine Arts, Dhaka University. The exhibition ends on May 22.

Courtesy of The Daily Star