Page 265 - Art and Crafts of Bangladesh

262 ART AND CRAFTS

Army on 25th March, 1971 - at the very beginning
of the liberation war. The fortnight-long exhibition,
that started on 3rd October 1996, incorporated
dramatic use of light and shade, and also music. A
printmaker and illustration artist Ashok Karmaker’s
involvement in stage design was reflected in these
installation works. The sponsors of this exhibition
were some local industrial enterprises including
Partex Group. He participated, with the same
works, in the first Asian Triennial of the Asian Art
Museum in Fukuoka, Japan in the year 1999.
UNESCO declared 21st February as the
International Mother Language Day in the year
2000. In order to celebrate this event, Ashok
presented an installation titled Right to Mother
Language from Ekushey to the World organized by the Shilpakala Academy of
fig. 6.12 Kalidas Bangladesh. Under the supervision of Professor Syed Manzoorul Islam, a presentation of
Karmakar, Alluvial Bangladeshi artworks was exhibited as part of the South Asia Art Exhibition organized by
Freedom, nature, mud, the Commonwealth. Ashok’s installation titled Life of Fishermen, Life in Water was part
water, fire etc.,
Bangladesh, 2000, 2003, of this exhibition. Ashok has been participating with his installations in all the Asian
1999, 1992 Biennales since 1996 (fig.6.11).
In an exhibition of the senior artist Kalidas Karmakar- titled Liberation Seventy-one –
Homage to Blue - organized in 1997, he presented a different trend of work alongside
traditional ones. While conventional paintings hung on the walls, in the middle of the
gallery, a group of white human figure-like sculptural structures were left lying around-
symbolizing the genocide of the Liberation War. In a corner of the exhibition, he placed
a row of TV monitors, which showed the videos of some environmental works by the
artist (fig. 6.12). Along with the issues of national sentiments such as the Liberation War,
Independence, etc, everyday social and political crises became the subjects of installation
and performance works. Architect and artist Enamul Karim Nirjhar, organized an unusual
exhibition in the Russian Cultural Center in Dhaka in 1997 titled Self-Centered
Expression. In the exhibition, held on 14th and 15th June, Nirjhar presented the current
social and political crises of the country to the viewers by hanging mirrors, paper cuttings
and verses from various poems around the exhibition room.
An exhibition of Mahbubur Rahman titled Expo-City Crisis took place in the Alliance
Française in Dhaka from 4th to 14th November and in Chittagong’s Shilpasamannaya
Center from 21st to 27th November. In these consecutive exhibitions, instant painting and
performance based on the exchange of opinions with the viewers were presented along
with traditional sculptures and paintings. The purpose of this exhibition was to depict
urban problems such as unplanned growth, black fume and other environmental pollution,
traffic jam, mugging, etc. According to the artist – ‘This Expo is not to be remembered as