This website is dedicated to celebrating one of Bangladesh's unique popular arts, the paintings and decorations on the three-wheeled cycle ricksha or 'rickshaw', as spelled in English dictionaries. Ricksha arts cannot be assigned to any static 'genre'. They are popular as opposed to 'fine' arts. They appropriate multiple forms which include folklore, classical art elements, and commercial forms.

About the Author
Joanna Kirkpatrick, PhD UCB 1970 (Prior degrees Stanford and Yale). Cultural and Social Anthropologist. South Asia is my regional area of studies, both India and Bangladesh. Since my first fieldwork in Punjab, India in 1965-66, I have published in the fields of medical anthropology, women studies, and popular art in Bangladesh. All photo images, unless otherwise noted, are by the author. The International Folk Art Museum in Santa Fe, N.M. holds my 1987 collection of ricksha arts--both panels and hoods.

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