‘Nutrition Stories- Collaborative Responsibility for Change’: In the wake of natural disasters

On March 2, Kala Kendra inaugurated "Nutrition Stories: Collaborative Responsibility for Change", a photography exhibition by visual artist Mohammad Rakibul Hasan. The exhibition was commissioned by Concern Bangladesh, in partnership with WaterAid, Rupantar, and Jagrata Juba Shangha (JJS); and is part of a European Union-funded project called 'Collective Responsibility, Action and Accountability for Improved Nutrition (CRAAIN)'.

Curated by Kazi Tahsin Agaz Apurbo, the event was graced by the presence of Dr Hasan Shahriar Kabir, Director General, Bangladesh National Nutrition Council (BNCC); His Excellency Charles Whiteley, Ambassador and Head of Delegation, European Union (EU) to Bangladesh; Shomi Kaiser, Cultural Activist, Managing Director of Dhansiri Communications Ltd; Mir Masruruzaman, Senior News Editor of Channel i and Manish Kumar Agarwal, Country Director, Concern Worldwide.

"Nutrition Stories" feature the lives and struggles of the coastal communities of Bagerhaat, Bangladesh. The district is located near the Sundarbans and is often flooded by sea-water. The saline soil cannot often produce enough crops to live on. River erosion further aggravates the already responsible chain of cyclone, affecting the survival of these people. And their fight never ends.

Once they lose their ground to the natural forces, their families fall into the danger of extinction. Concern along with other organisations decided to bring about the images of their struggles in front of city dwellers, who have little idea about displacement and its effects.

Kala Kendra's walls hold the photographs of our coastal villagers engaged in their livelihoods. Their emotions, their demeanours, their houses, lands, the flora of the areas, their cattle, fishnets and boats, come alive through Hasan's photography. They were provided with plant seeds, ducklings and chickens, and taught how to take care of them. Moreover, they received prenatal and postnatal training to prevent maternal and child deaths.

Some of the images showed the devastation right after a cyclone, some showed floods for miles. Hasan used the High Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci's mural painting 'The Last Supper' as an inspiration and captured the members of four families together with the last of their food supply during a flood.

There was an installation with hanging plants to portray the way they (plants) can survive the floods. The purpose of 'Nutrition Stories' was to open our eyes to the scale of damage caused in our coastal regions and how our fellow citizens successfully grew more resistant to these natural phenomena. The exhibition ended on March 6.