Holly in Bangladesh: Art in Motion

Rickshaws are one of the most common modes of transportation in Bangladesh. They are one speed bikes with a seat on the back holding 1 - 2 people comfortably, but are often tested to hold 4 or 5 people. Bangladeshis use rickshaws everyday to travel short distances (maybe 2 – 5 km) within cities and towns. The average rickshaw ride can be anywhere from 10 – 50 Taka, and the price usually depends on distance, number of people, traffic and most importantly, how well you bargain.

One of the most unique things about rickshaws though, is that they are moving pieces of artwork. Art and rickshaws seem to have always existed together, as one rickshaw art supplier told me “when the rickshaws came, the art came.” Every rickshaw is painted and decorated with a variety of brightly colored brush strokes, fabric, tassels and ornaments, transforming otherwise normal bikes into beautiful art that streaks by you on the roaring Dhaka streets.

Rickshaw art refers to a particular style of painting that developed from painting on rickshaws. The actual style of painting is a kind of pop art, but in Bangladesh it is simply referred to as rickshaw art (and this style can be found on things other than rickshaws, such as clothing, shoes, picture frames, furniture, etc.).

Rickshaw seat, which holds 2 people comfortably.

Backside of a rickshaw.

Usually Rickshaws are painted in bright red, orange, pink, yellow, green and blue. On the actual bike frame, artists will paint flowers, vines, birds and other small designs, often times covering the entire frame in art. The hood (the fan like roof the opens up) is also ornately decorated. Sometimes a rickshaw will have different pieces of brightly colored fabric sewn onto the hood or sometimes the back of the hood has a painted design. Very ornate rickshaws will also have decorated seat cushions (usually movie stars’ faces) and tassels on the front handlebars.

Closeup of the rickshaw hood. This one has pieces
of fabric sown onto it for decoration.

Even if a rickshaw has very little decoration, nearly every single one will have a somewhat elaborately painted scene on a metal panel on the back. This scene can be of anything, however it is very common to see birds, movie stars and village scenes, but you can also find more unusual scenes, such as cars being run off a bridge by an oncoming train.

As my Bangla classes were coming to an end, I had to put together a final presentation on a topic of my choice (the only hitch was that it all had to be in Bangla), so I decided to investigate rickshaw art.

For my research I went down to Bangsal Road in Old Dhaka. Bangsal road is a street completely dedicated to bikes and rickshaw supplies. There are dozens of shops selling Indian and Chinese knockoffs of old school Raleighs (which I plan to get once I have finally finished moving into my new apartment) and others selling brightly decorated fabric and sheet metal used for the Rickshaws.

Shop selling rickshaw art and vinyl cloth for the seats of rickshaws.

Supplied sold at the rickshaw shops.

The rickshaw suppliers will get their materials from different cities in Bangladesh and also import supplies from China, Thailand, India, Japan and Korea. When a rickshaw proprietor wants to buy a rickshaw, he will visit one of these shops. The shop will then collect all of the materials and send the frame and supplies to the artists to paint and decorate. Usually, a newly decorated rickshaw will last 1 – 2 years before needing to be re-decorated.

Village scene on the backside panel of a rickshaw.

The Taj Mahal, a popular decoration despite the fact it is located in India!

Sometimes artists get a little creative...

Hindi movie stars.

Older panel of Hindi movie stars shooting a tiger.

[However, quite often rickshaw owners will wait even longer before doing so. This is because decorating a rickshaw costs a lot! Depending on how ornately a rickshaw is decorated it can cost an owner up to 16,000 Taka ($230). That is about a quarter the one third the amount of money a rickshaw wallah (the person actually driving the rickshaws) will make in an entire year. In fact, because rickshaws are so expensive, most of the rickshaw wallahs do not own their rickshaw. Instead, rickshaw wallahs will rent their rickshaw from the proprietor and pay a significant amount of their daily earnings to the proprietor.]

After asking around Bangsal Road, I finally made my way through the alleyways of Old Dhaka to an old garage where a Shilpi (artist) was busy painting a rickshaw. He originally used to sketch, but then discovered rickshaw art and has been happily painting 2 rickshaws a day for the past forty years. Although rickshaws could be found in Bangladesh as early as the 1930’s, the Shilpe told me that before 1955, Tom Toms (horse drawn carriages that you can still use for transport in Old Dhaka) were the main source of transportation, but that after 1955 Rickshaws took over Bangladesh.