BANGLADESH

Dhaka

“It wasn’t the plan for me to become an artist. This is a man’s profession whereas a girl should prepare for marriage. When my father fell very ill, I had to help him, and this is how I really came to learn the profession.” Nasima

Abstracts

"(…) In Dhaka, I told my host that I intended to take a stroll around the big market. 'But you’re not going to walk there? It’ll take you at least fifteen minutes! Take the driver, it won’t take you more than three-quarters of an hour. It’ll be air-conditioned… Spare yourself the heat and dirt on the street!' (…) So often, I’ve had the time to observe, from my air-conditioned carriage, myriads of cycle rickshaws weaving between stationary cars.

I asked around to find out if perhaps there were women who decorated these colorful vehicles. People would look back at me, their eyes widened in surprise: women worked, they transported beams on construction sites, they did the toughest jobs, at a stretch they might work in textile factories – but as for exercising the noble art of painting rickshaws! What a crazy idea! But I ended up finding this artist: Nasima."

Extract from Zoé Zoé, Femmes du mondes, 2007, Éditions Gallimard