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‘BODY AND THE MAP’

Stories of chaos, trauma, and scars through art
PHOTOS: AISHWARYA RAIHAN
AISHWARYA RAIHAN
Bengal Shilpalay is currently hosting Body and the Map , a contemporary art exhibition illustrating stories of violence, destruction, injustice, pain, and loss of humanity. Our bodies bear testimony to the resistance against societal darkness, the trauma inflicted upon us, and the generational scars.
According to curator Sharmillie Rahman, the body reflects the endeavour to belong in a place with a broken, anarchic political system. Following this notion, 10 emerging local artists have given shape to their imagination and interpretation of the current political instability, moral decay, and indifference towards these—that is caused by the economy, not just in our nation, but also worldwide.
Body and the Map features artists A Asan, Afsana Sharmin, Ashang Mong, Farzana Ahmed, Mong Mong Shay, Niazuddin Ahmmed, Palash Bhattacharjee, Rasel Rana, Razib Datta, and Ripon Saha, each with a collection of their artwork.
Reaching the 3rd level of Bengal Shilpalay, the first art piece greeting me in the lift lobby with its unique appearance was Ria Moni , a tower constructed with children’s toys. Created by Afsana Sharmin, this sculpture is a memorial for the mother who was shot dead in her apartment during the Student Aginst Discrimination (SAD) Movement, leaving behind her infant Ria Moni. An intimidating installation with bamboo, sharp objects, water lilies, and severed doll parts is her way of visualising the movement.
The next artwork with enormous volume was Rasel Rana’s installation, a part of his Desire Peace series. Made with cotton and fabric, this piece symbolises the ascending of the martyrs of the movement to the sky, a pain that we who are still alive are carrying. Pages from his memoir during these horrific incidents are also on display.
Mong Mong Shay, through his digital manipulation, depicted the savagery committed via the abuse of power, including the silhouette of Tofazzal Hossain, an innocent man mocked, bullied, and beaten to death by a group of students at Dhaka University. In the Field of Duality is a combination of five brightly painted panels put together, all of which are Shay’s way of saying, “Something is wrong with whatever is happening around us.”
A Asan painted a being on a gabardine cloth, begging for bullets so it could end the hatred, terror, and violence that are prevalent in the world. Her small woodcut prints are her way of showing that there is still a ray of hope amidst this chaos and that we should always hold onto it just like she does.
Niazuddin Ahmmed summarised the injustice on protesters as a ‘fall’ of conscience, compassion, empathy, and morals. His minimalistic watercolour drawings are the remembrance of the events. The video and installation together symbolise the never-changing venom of political power that corrupts anyone who claims it.
Not only during the July Uprising, but the attacks on students and their supporters, the hate crimes against minority groups, the injustice in the mountains, the political instability, and even the genocide in the land of Palestine have shaken Farzana Ahmed to her core, resulting in her creating massive scrolls of overwhelming images. She has also made a sculpture to portray the horror of being injured by a chopper, reminding us of the murder of Biswajit Das in 2012.
Ashang Mong’s humongous bird with white plumage had its head stuck in the roof—a unique depiction of our current political and economic instability, unpredictable future, and declining mental health. His Here, There, and Elsewhere series focuses on various intriguing elements of our mind, such as horror, imprisonment, awareness of the presence of lives around us, differences in spaces, etc.
Razib Datta sought refuge in satirical expressions with minimalistic execution, illustrating the effects of radical nationalism developed in recent years, generating the July Uprising. His installation connects with the fear, aggression, and irregularity we feel at present.
Ripon Saha’s drawings on canvas and single-channel video, Birth of a Content , show his aversion to politics. For him, everything around us, including love and hatred, war and peace, education and administration, business, and economy, is just content, and there would be a world in the future revolutionised by content. Those five days of internet shutdown in July prompted Palash Bhattacharjee to create a tiny journal with pieces from a newspaper, accompanied by a video. This piece is called The Days of Log Out. His Broken Glass speaks the story of his experience during a halted cultural gathering.
It requires immense strength to be an artist. To be able to represent sensitive issues thoughtfully is a skill that requires years of patience, practice, and honesty, and these virtues are vividly present in all the artworks in Body and the Map .
Inaugurated on November 15, Bengal Shilpalay will run this open-to-all exhibition till December 28.