Behind the mask
Binoy Kumar Sur makes papier maché masks for dance theatre troupes and religious parades mostly. There was a time when business was better, now it’s dwindling. He inherited this shop in Shankhari Bazaar, old Dhaka, from his father. It’s more than 80 years old. It takes him about 5 days to make 10 leopard masks, but the Kali goddesses take at least double that much time. He was most gracious to us, perhaps happy to have an interested audience. Across his store there is one selling the accoutrements of Hindu prayers – incense, bells, pictures of gods and goddesses and even rangoli. Just a few hundred metres up we ran into a very loud aarti being conducted by an enthusiastic if tone-deaf priest with a harmonium in a sealed off temple with goddesses barred to the throng seated outside.
Yes, He’s in a #mesh vest
#minorities#crafts #dyingarts #strugglingartists#handicrafts #Dhakadiaries #color#papierMache #masks #blog #wpyes, he’s in a #meshshirt
#minorities#crafts #dyingarts #strugglingartists#handicrafts #Dhakadiaries #color#papierMache #masks #blog #wp