“Kaud”

Original Oil Painting

Oil On Canvas 

70cm X 100cm

Created 2022

In May of 2022 I was invited by the Social Purpose Organisation Friendship to visit Nakna village in the remote coastal region of Bangladesh. This area had been hit by cyclones and flooding and the situation was getting worse as climate change accelerated. Friendship and the community were doing a lot of work to protect the village from the impact of the floods and they had embarked on a huge project of planting mangrove trees to protect the coastal areas and strengthen the coastal edge.

I wanted to learn how climate change had impacted over the years and I was introduced to one of the elders of the village Kaud Banq. I knew as soon as I saw Kaud that I wanted to paint her. Every wrinkle on her face told a story, her eyes showed her wisdom, her hands clutching tightly at the wooden stick that supported her showed her strength and her beautiful dress showed her pride and dignity. I wanted to create a back ground that would show a path way that instead of looking smaller in the distance as It disappeared in the horizon had the opposite affect, the pathway was getting narrower and narrower as it pushed its way into the foreground. This path that Kaud had taken for 85 years was wide and abundant in her childhood but as climate change gradually impacted the pathway got narrower and narrower as the water level increased. Kaud now stood near the end of this narrowing path surrounded by water. 

All proceeds of the painting will go to www.friendship.ngo

“Kaud” is also available as a signed limited edition print, please see the “Bangladesh and Climate Change” series on the limited edition print section of the website.

If you would like to commission a portrait please contact James by email james@jamesearleyartist.com or by mobile 0044 7551616352