Tomasz Gudowaty | Ship Wreckers

Exhibition Dates: May 11 – June 17, 2006

Opening reception with the artist: May 11, 2-5 PM

 
If you believe modern legend, it all began on a stormy October night in 1960. A large freighter, caught in the midst of a treacherous cyclone on the Bay of Bengal, was grounded on the beach near Chittagong, a city in former Eastern Pakistan. When re-floating the ship proved impossible, it was abandoned by its foreign owners, and left to the devices of the locals. Using only minimal tools, the ship was taken apart methodically, piece by piece, until within a few months it had disappeared entirely. Thus the beach at Chittagong was transformed into the world’s largest shipyard specializing in the disassembly of worn-out ships.

Ship wrecking has become a well-oiled machine in Chittagong, with over 70 ships dismantled annually. After the on-board equipment has been auctioned and removed to the local market, the ship is then “cleaned”, a process that involves cutting holes in the hull and letting the tide water wash in to rinse the ship’s interior. Fuels, lubricants, and chemicals are washed into the coastal waters of the Bay. The ship is then overtaken by swarms of workers, who with bare hands break down the hull into parts to be used as raw materials for the metallurgical industry in a country devoid of natural resources.