August 23, 2004

THE SCREAM IS STOLEN


The norwegian painter Edvard Munch's insight into his masterpiece:
"I was out walking with two friends - the sun began to set - suddenly the sky turned blood-red - I paused, feeling exhausted, and leaned on a fence - there was blood and tongues of fire above the blue-black fjord and the city - my friends walked on, and there I still stood, trembling with fear - and I sensed an endless scream passing through nature."

The work expresses the loneliness and awful despair felt by Munch, on realization of the might of the natural world in comparison to a single human being.

The title of this post is metaphorical. The Bangladeshi general citizens are also screaming in despair and helplessness being stunned by the recent bomb threats and bomb attacks. The might of the terrorists, the unknown force is so vast that a police force and intelligence of a country cannot have a clue who did it. We are predicting that the investigations of the assassination attempt on Sheikh Hasina will lead to nowhere like the previous bombing investigations. No single perpetrator has been arrested till now. I am feeling that our screams are also being stolen. We will no longer be able to cry out for help. "The scream" painting depicts the silent cries of the helpless people.

Click here to know about the theft of the painting.