• Works
• Performance
• Jewellery
• Press release for We are animals - Dhakai Jamdani
  
• Acknowledgements
  

Works

Well actually the twin works in this exhibition We are animals and Dhakai Jamdani are so intertwined that they should be read as We [Dhakai] are [Jamdani] Animals or maybe typed as shown on right as the images below will tell you.

Anyway, here are some of the images from the works exhibited at the Blacktown Mall, corner of Warrick Lane and Main Street, Blacktown, NSW between November 18 and 25, 2004 with a performance on the 20th between 12 noon and 4pm.

Please click on a thumbnail to view a larger image of the work along with a description.

By the water
Duel by water	Scene one by the watering hole	Scene two by the watering hole
Dancing by water	On the far side of water	Away from water on strange rock
Meanwhile, by the waterfall
Seeping in the ambience	The TV arrives	The lion speaks on TV

Performance

Performance being photographed by Danny	My favourite mudra	Birds eye view

Jewellery

Passionfruit leaves	Red, Green and Gold	Purple Haze
Mango Blossom

Press release

Saree clad animals behaving like human beings at Blacktown Mall

Date: 9.11.2004

On 20th of November 2004, expect Jamdani saree clad animals to behave like human beings at the Blacktown Mall, corner of Warrick Lane and Main Street, Blacktown, NSW. These animals - springing directly out of naif paintings found on the back panel of Rickshaws - will sing and dance to Tagore tunes prancing around even more specimens of Rickshaw art where animals are again behaving like human beings. Well what is Rickshaw Art, what is Jamdani, what is a saree and why are animals dancing around at Blacktown Mall? Or just simply, why?

Well the answer is because Fida Haq, a regional artist, is putting up a couple of intertwined performance/installation/photographic works named We are animals and Dhakai Jamdani at the abandoned Abanoub's grocery inside Blacktown Mall as part of Other Places: New Media and Local Identities which itself is a part of [Out of Gallery] A Series of Guerilla Exhibition in Western Sydney - a collaborative art project developed by Blacktown Arts Centre in partnership with the School of Contemporary Art, University of Western Sydney. The project is also supported by UWS Regional & Community Grants Programme.

As is conveyed by Adnan Begic of Blacktown Arts Centre and also the curator of [OUT OF GALLERY] project, "Other Places is a new media project which invites artists to participate in a series of exhibitions in public commercial windows using the theme of multicultural identity. The project will explore visual narratives inspired by the original design,fashion, language and culture of over 100 different nationalities residing in Western Sydney."

To this call, Fida Haq, one of the selected artists for Other Places, has responded with works that umbilically refers to two streams of folk art and industry from Bangladesh:

1. We are animals is informed by the surreal sub-genre of 'animals behaving like human beings' of Rickshaw Art. A rickshaw, by the way, is an indigenous, human-pedaled tricycled form of transport of Bangladesh and
2. Dhakai Jamdani relates to sarees - a long and decorated piece of cloth worn by Bangladeshi women - woven with traditional 'Jamdani' motifs and fabrics of Dhaka region of Bangladesh.

In this performance, Haq has intertwined these distinct art forms - the naivety, chaos and riotous colours of Rickshaw art with the century-old tradition, workmanship and discipline of Jamdani fabric which, it's worth mentioning, is a direct descendent of 'Muslin' fabric - from an Australian perspective.

The performance will take place between 12 noon and 4pm, 20 November, corner of Warwick Lane and Main street Balcktown. So, if you do not want to miss out on those dancing animals to a Tagore-tune, just be there. More information about We are animals and Dhakai Jamdani can be found at http://www.fidahaq.net.au/otherplaces.php.

Acknowledgements

We [Dhakai] are [Jamdani] animals is dedicated to the countless rickshaw artists and Jamdani weavers of Bangladesh. Thanks for the joy you provide to Bangladeshis without ever getting any recognition for it.
In addition to rickshaw artists and Jamdani weavers of Bangladesh, there are quite a few members of the Bangladeshi community in Sydney without whose help, support and active participation, the project would not have materialised.
My heartfelt thanks and gratitude go to them. They are:

• Francilia Gomes, Angel Correya, Meghna Rozario and Aura Correya for the performance,
• Dola, Beauty and Muna Jalal for appearing in the photographic works,
• Jacque Gomes for the wonderful choreography,
• Anjan, Shahed Jalal and Reha Jalal for helping with props, locations and logistics during the photo shoots,
• The Gomes, Correya, Rozario and Hossain families for the support and cooperation,
• Rafiqul Hasan for his videography,
• Manzurul Hamid Kochi for organising Kolorol that started the whole thing in my mind.
• Farah Haq for her overall support
• All the people who kindly lent all those beautiful sarees for the event.
• France Lasnier, author of 'Rickshaw art in Bangladesh'.