BANGLADESH • 2023
Last Ferry
On the rivers of the Ganges–Brahmaputra delta — a portrait of the ferry system that holds the country together, and the lives that depend on it.
Year
2023
Region
Bangladesh
Duration
4 weeks
Format
Medium format film
Published In
The Guardian
Geo Magazine
ABOUT THIS PROJECT
Bangladesh has more navigable waterways than roads. The ferry is not a romantic holdover — it is infrastructure. Without it, villages of ten thousand people become islands. I rode seven routes over four weeks, sleeping on deck when there was no berth.
The last departure of the evening is always the most revealing. People relax. The performance of the day dissolves. What is left is just the river and the dark and whatever comes next on the other bank.
Shot on Hasselblad 500CM, Kodak Ektar 100. The square format felt right — the water is everywhere, the sky is everywhere. Nothing is more important than anything else.
PHOTO ESSAY
Passengers on the evening crossing from Barisal to Dhaka. The journey takes twelve hours. Barisal, Bangladesh.
Fishing boats in the early morning. Fog over the Meghna river. Chandpur, Bangladesh.
The last ferry of the day crossing the Jamuna river. The service runs three times a week.
Sirajganj, Bangladesh.