September 10, 2007––A convoy of seven red, green and blue three-wheeler tuk tuks rolls along Colombo’s busy streets, carrying striking blowup portraits that put the HIV/AIDS message out there in a way never before seen in Sri Lanka.  | Tuk-tuks at the Bank's car park in Colombo before doing their rounds |
The tuk tuk drivers, proud of their dramatic impact and the curiosity of the crowds, have become messengers for the cause, helping people understand the health issues surrounding the disease and motivating them to step up and respond to HIV/AIDS in South Asia. The standing and mobile exhibitions organized by the World Bank office in Colombo feature large, sensitive portraits, by renowned Bangladeshi photographer Shahidul Alam, of South Asians who made a commitment to change the course of HIV/AIDS there. In the accompanying text, they share how their experience of the disease made them better doctors, researchers, legislators, citizens or people. The stories illustrate diverse forms of compassion and roles that leadership can take in confronting HIV/AIDS. The photographs highlight the realities and emphasize the positive directions people are moving in to rise above difficult situations. Each story centers on a different aspect of the disease, a different reason for committing to help others. Storytelling with Photographs  | Posters of the exhibition at a bus stand in Colombo |
”The written word excludes communication through images, music, dance and traditional forms of story telling, and so it doesn’t reach the most significant parts of our community that we need to reach,” said Alam, photographer, activist and head of the Drik photo agency and the Pathshala Institute of Photography in Bangladesh. At the main central Fort railway station and the busy Pettah bus stand, where all journeys for the majority of Sri Lankan citizens begin and end, interest in the exhibition and its subject was high. Most confessed to knowing very little about HIV/AIDS. The portrait of the country’s Positive Group President, Princey Mangalika, and her message “I can tell a married woman living isolated at home that she can get infected,” resonated with and touched the women in particular. While burdened with shopping, they still stopped to look and learn. Drivers Tell the Story The tuk-tuk drivers, who had received instructions in sharing the narrative to accompany the portraits adorning their vehicles, relished their newfound role as HIV/AIDS communicators. They were adept in explaining the disease and the exhibition. With their usual courage in traffic, the drivers slowed cars and drew many people to the exhibition, including tourists passing through the Fort railway station and activists staging a protest on the high cost of living. The same tuk-tuks were at the International Conference on AIDS in the Asia Pacific (ICAAP) on the first day of the sessions on August 20, delighting delegates from all over Sri Lanka and the world. August 19 the mobile exhibition stood outside beaches and hotels, and on August 21 and 22 it was at the main railway and bus stations in Colombo. The message was carried back to villages across the island and everyone wanted the exhibition to travel to their villages. Indeed, its impact was such that the Global Fund has shown interest in replicating it in Geneva, and a London Gallery is due to host it on December 1, World AIDS Day.
“While gatekeepers are quick to say, ‘A picture is worth a thousand words’, rarely do they back it up with the action necessary to produce effective communications tools that go beyond the reach of the urban elite,” said Alam, speaking to youth and media at the launch. Spinoffs Planned  | | W.S. Prasanna, the Tuk-tuk driver, explains to drivers at the Pettah main bus stand that a stay-at-home wife can get HIV/AIDS from the husband |
The exhibition, "Portraits of Commitment", based on the book of the same name commissioned by UNAIDS with photography by Shahidul Alam and text by Karen Emmons was organized through the World Bank’s Small Grants Youth Initiative program. It draws on the power of the image and the experience of the innovative agency Drik, and its educational youth wing Pathshala in Bangladesh.
The tuk tuk idea was inspired by Chobi Mela, the Asian photography festival which, under Alam’s guidance, has used Bangladesh's traditional form of transport, the rickshaw, to take exhibitions to remote communities. The rickshaw displays have even been taken across rivers in small boats to parts of the country where people have never been to galleries. Drik and the Pathshala Institute plan to replicate this model in many parts of the globe, such as Bolivia, Mongolia and Tanzania, where shows will be transported on camels, donkeys and other forms of local transport.
Text and photos contributed by Chulie De Silva, external affairs officer, Sri Lanka
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