Since the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic, the world of art has shaken up, bringing forth new challenges and consequentially, a shift in our perspectives. Addressing this crisis and utilizing the blessings of technology and social media, Brihatta Foundation had conceptualized the ‘Brihatta Home Art Project 2020’, a virtual residency program, empowering budding artists from various mediums to collaborate and continue creating amid the pandemic. Fifteen artists were selected for this residency as they went through a three-membered Jury Board consisting of artist and retired Professor Alak Roy, arts and Professor Nisar Hossain, and artist Tayeba Begum Lipi. The selected artists were given three mentors: Professor Dhali Al Mamoon, artist Mahbubur Rahman and Assistant Professor Bishwajit Goswami, who led this group of artists through virtual sessions. As the second part of the 5-part feature story, we exhibit the art and ideology of three selected grantees- Dinar Sultana Putul, Md Anisul Haque, and Jayatu Chakma
Dinar Sultana Putul
Dinar Sultana Putul is a Santiniketan-based artist. Originally from the eastern part of Bangladesh, Putul’s personal experiences led her to think deeply about nature, where she started her journey on exploring Mother Nature’s bounties. The abundant beauty of her surroundings deeply appealed and astonished Putul, leading her to celebrate the aleatory outcome which may come to her path. Putul firmly believes, “I do not paint, I quite simply make”. In this work, she depended on hand-worked processes to transform everyday materials with natural objects that are associated with rituals.
Through her journey of understanding nature’s products, she used all possible substances like cotton-pulp, human hair, snakeskin, and a slew of other discarded elements. Extracting and using paste from flowers, barks, seeds, leaves, small rocks, and clay, she crafted the paper for her artwork. In the three-month residency period of “Brihatta Home Art Project 2020”, Putul focused on “materiality” which was inspired by the philosophical term “materialistic world.” The artist was inspired by Buckminster Fuller’s “know-how” propaganda from his book Grunch of Giants and incorporated the philosophy in her work. Through her approach, she wished to invoke sensitivity, towards nature, humans and the earth.
Md Anisul Haque
Affected by the stories of violence, hatred, and war, Md. Anisul Haque was inspired to create his artwork that may possibly make a difference and contribute to world peace. His ceramic works express his thoughts and show the truth in a different perspective. He believes that no other material has such a natural relation with humans like clay in the arts. Sometimes he combines his ceramic works with cloths which allows him to work on a unique texture. The distressed cloth texture expresses exploring the emotional impact of our world today, such as racism, and third-world country oppression among many others.
Haque completed his BFA and MFA in Ceramics from the Faculty of Fine Art, University of Dhaka and took another post-graduation degree from Nanjing University of Art, China. In the three-month residency period of “Brihatta Home Art Project 2020,” Rony focused on different contemporary techniques, believing that art is the best possible media to portray social and political barriers and that the barriers can be changed through art as well.
Jayatu Chakma
Jayatu Chakma’s work depicts life and the movement around his surroundings. Like other indigenous people, he longs to portray his birthplace to his audiences in different ways. He works on human figures that show pain and loss of not belonging. The figures in his artworks move continually, representing the search for a shelter to start a new life. As an artist from a marginalized community, he works on subjects that express his origin. He strives to create powerful works, so that future artists from his community can learn to take inspiration from the beauty and sorrows of Chattogram Hill Tracts. Jayatu completed his BFA and MFA from the Institute of Fine Arts, University of Chittagong.
Chakma has been working on migration and human trafficking, which includes the changes in lifestyle, culture and so on. His work shows how modernity is not always easy to cope with, how it is hard for marginal communities to adapt to urban lifestyles. On the other hand, he also expresses how the expansion of tourism for the sake of economic stability is harmful to the indigenous people. In a deviation from his usual art practices, his work for the “Brihatta Home Art Project 2020” incorporates cloth and needlework.
