Traditional Rickshaw Art in Bangladesh

The three wheeled pedicab, more commonly known as rickshaws of Bangladesh has been around since the forties. Initially, they were pretty much left undecorated, but starting in the late forties, the faces of movie stars began appearing as decorative motifs on shields at the back of the rickshaws along with a variety of floral paintings. The unique trend of rickshaw art started from Rajshahi and Dhaka in Bangladesh and took its own style in each district.

These art on moving wheels are done using very bold, bright and raw colors, like fluorescent green, dark red and so on. The blaze of colors also helps to make them long lasting. This living pop art culture of Bangladesh is done by illiterate rickshaw artists. They learn their techniques by living with Ustat (master) from boyhood. They do not have copyrights, even most of case do not mentioned name in art also. But in the back of rickshaw generally having mark of maker with bold steel pin, for example - "Fazlu Mistri". Nowadays the rickshaw art and artist are in 'struggle of existence'.

Bangladeshi rickshaw art is inspired by movie posters and cinema culture that is widespread in the region. Most of the rickshaw artists have their creative roots in Bengali folk art and base their visual art on colorful depictions of actors and movie scenes. Striking colors such as reds, blues and greens are combined with distinctive patterns and motifs taken from nature, including plants, flowers, birds and other animals. Local village scenes are also often depicted through this form of visual art.

**Photo collected from various sources (website, facebook group etc.) to enrich my post; special thanks goes to: RickshawArt.org