GURU

Nasir Ali Mamun spent ten years in pursuit of the fugitive artist and recorded in his frame the pathos and struggle of the artist, as he went about recreating on giant canvases the essence of the human spirit.S.M. Sultan is an artist of and for the rural working classes and Mamun's photographs capture his proximity to the common people. Sultan speaks for the people who toiled, through ages for the advancement of human civilization, says Mamun. When Mamun started his assignment of documenting the controversial painter's life with a camera, he had no hope that his works one day would be on display as a tribute to the artist.These photographs reveal many hidden and obscure faces of Sultan's life. The artist is a recluse in love with unadulterated, nature. He cares for animals, birds and plants, subjects which often jumps into his canvases. Mamun tried to capture the inner spirit of Sultan's who adroitly shunned, publicity and lived hermetically near his native village in Narail in south western Bangladesh.S.M. Sultan is a great artist and Mamun's photographs hold a mirror up to the magnitude of that greatness.