"All that is left": Images of the outgoing life

EVERY DAY PHOTOGRAPHERS AROUND THE WORLD looking for new ways to tell stories or to capture what we previously did not notice. We choose interesting photo projects and ask their authors what they wanted to say. This week is a series of “All that remains” of a photographer from Bangladesh and a teacher at the South Asian Institute of Photography, Sarker Protik, who has documented the last years of his elderly relatives in an attempt to understand what a long life leads to.

It was evening. I was sitting on my grandfather's couch, the door slowly opened and I saw a light penetrate the gap, spreading over the white door and white walls. Suddenly, all the pieces of the puzzle are folded. I felt a connection between what I saw and what I felt. John and Provo are my grandparents. I grew up in an atmosphere of great love and care, they were young and strong. But as time went on, hearing everything that came along the path. The bodies were changing, and the connections weakened. Grandmother's hair turned gray, the paint from the walls began to peel off, only objects remained unchanged. Everything was enclosed in a single room. They always liked that I was shooting them, because it allowed me to spend more time with them and they did not feel so abandoned and lonely. After Prova died, I tried to visit John more often and chat with him. He told me about youth, about how they met. So many different stories. Here, life stands still, everything is paused. A pause before something that I am not able to fully understand.

I remember how I bought my first mobile with a small camera - then for the first time I had a desire to photograph. I studied in a magistracy and used a photo for my project. Then a friend told me about Pathshala's photo school, and I entered it. But only by the end of the second year of study, in 2010, I decided to seriously devote myself to photography. The idea of this project has not undergone any special changes since the start, but the visual aesthetics and objects of shooting have changed significantly. At the very beginning I was shooting what are called “normal” photos - with the correct exposure and real daylight. Gradually, I noticed that the photos began to turn out very light, and I began to add still lifes to the portraits of the characters. I felt that this would be the right way, and then continued to shoot in that way.

I am afraid of aging, and the goal of this project is to try to reflect this period of life. In our youth, each of us has an incredible amount of dreams and expectations that we are trying to fulfill and justify. In the old age of all these goals you do not have and it is completely incomprehensible what awaits you ahead. This question is what next? - me and oppresses.

In photography, I am most interested in visual poetics. I like working with time and space. I want to experiment and learn different visual languages. I want to tell stories about my country that nobody had previously told or showed. And, of course, I want to destroy the stereotypical visual image of Bangladesh. At the same time, photography will always remain a very personal thing for me. I did not expect that this project will appeal to people and become so popular. The main reason why I continued to shoot this series is the opportunity to spend more time with my grandparents. It made them happier.