When he first arrived in Bangladesh, photographer Ernst Coppejans saw it everywhere: men who had dyed their hair or their facial hair orange.
Ernst Coppejans
Coppejans' portraits likely contain people "from all layers of the population" in Bangladesh, he said -- young and old, businessmen and tea sellers.
Ernst Coppejans
Many of the men dyed their hair orange for religious reasons. Others did it just for vanity.
Ernst Coppejans
Coppejans said most of the men he encountered were happy to pose for a portrait. But they didn't always choose to smile.
Ernst Coppejans
"I think it's also a status thing or something, the beards. ... People kind of look up to (the men)," Coppejans said. "It makes them a little bit more important, or that kind of feeling."
Ernst Coppejans
The orange color comes from the flowering henna plant.
Ernst Coppejans
The practice of dyeing hair generally occurs around the time of Ramadan, a religious holiday commemoration that involves a month of fasting.
Ernst Coppejans
"From the minute I arrived, I noticed these men with orange hair, orange beards, orange mustaches," Coppejans said.
Ernst Coppejans
"We all express (ourselves) by how we look -- we express emotions or how we feel," Coppejans said.
