The postmodern posters and billboards of our times

They seem unreal and far removed from the tradition of advertising or effective propaganda. Dhaka is invisible this minute. The trees can’t be seen; the major structures have disappeared; the concrete of the walls have evaporated into thin air. All one can see are the ugly billboards and even uglier posters. One cannot drive past any road without visually experiencing the larger than life billboards with pictures of lesser-known people being pasted all over them. The sizes are shocking; the content badly and disappointingly designed and presented.

‘Disappointment’ is perhaps not the right word. Aggrieved is perhaps better. I assume most people like me feel violated by the billboards and posters that eat our lovely city up. Given the fact that the city is probably at its worst with noise, air, water pollution today, each one of us living in this city still feel that some more green, some more cleanliness and some more parks would do us all some good. Given the fact that most of the parks are grabbed by many people who profess being apparently powerful, many still believe that there ought to be even more powerful voices to correct these offenders.  This is what, many people, I assume, desire.

But how can it ever happen in a city, which has more than 2500 ugly, unauthorised billboards strewn all over town? How can it ever happen in a city, where the culture of billboard is approved and allowed by mindless and compromising authorisations? Your columnist just drove past a huge four-storey billboard in Mohakhali, which has been placed over a four-storey building, itself endangering the structural integrity of the building.  Unipoles sliding to the side of the billboards are also super common in the city. Also equally common sights are billboards swallowing the footpath and the roads. Instead of the 50 yards distance being maintained between two billboards, there are many places where they are as close as five to ten feet apart. How do they manage to stand as they do?

The deviations can be listed and the list could stretch up to eternity.

One more thing that haunts Dhaka is the overwhelming number of posters. Special days demand special display. August 15, for this nation, is a date, which transcends and is most rightfully placed above all controversy. Considering the fact that it is the 40th anniversary of the martyrdom of the Father of the Nation, could we not have designed posters in a more meaningful way and put them up in a more aesthetic manner? All over the world, posters have made a difference to history. Why can we not do the same?

A much-celebrated Russian artist, Dimitri Moor brought in a different dimension to the world of graphics design and impacted the politics of his times, when he designed posters that stood for the heroic allies and portrayed the opposing, oppressive evil forces. His works of art in black and red depicted his views against the capitalists and red was essentially used for flags and the workers’ shirts.

Another Russian artist, Braslavskij drew posters for the emancipation of women. These women in her posters appear as ones who supported the communist agenda and wanted to be freed from the duties of being wives and mothers. A woman, pictured in one of the posters, is drawn androgynously, and is seen wearing masculine clothing hiding her female figure, accompanied by a cold hard stare masking her emotions. The background of the poster displays the strength of the women force who strive to do the same hard labour as men, and the main woman in the picture carries the red flag of the communist movement.

One of the Irish Jim Fitzpatrick drew the Che Guevara in 1968. Struck by grief Fitzpatrick drew Che based on his brief meeting with the leader during Che’s visit to Kilkee, Ireland in 1963. Till date, this poster of Che stands as an icon of anti-Vietnam war protests. This image has continued to automatically become a symbolic tool of any meaningful revolution in any part of the world.

In this column, references have been made to only three out of hundreds of exceptionally gifted artists just to stress on the fact that grief deserves thoughtful space and respect. Putting up posters of Bangabandhu and then adding the names and pictures of our own selves or organisations defeat the single day, which must be remembered with maximum reverence. Unfortunately, most of the posters of the Father of the Nation have smaller images of him coupled with the advertiser’s happy mug shots. It seems that many were in a hurry to just print thousands of posters, marking the anniversary of martyrdom of this great leader without even having time to design a decent one.

Posters can add to positive perception and posters can recreate the grandeur of history. For the sake of the next generation, going forward, the authorities should invest in design competitions through which artists will have to submit poster designs for specific occasions and ultimately create brilliant visuals enriching our history and benefitting the tomorrows of our land.

This way, the tale of greatness will be told far better than how it is being done this minute with callous red drops of blood on the posters on the Father of the Nation, accompanied by even bigger, self-glorified images of the attention seeking insignificant aspiring leaders, belonging, yet, most unfortunately, to entities which most rightfully have a valid political legacy.