Page 271 - Art and Crafts of Bangladesh

268 ART AND CRAFTS

1952 to 1971, the local traditional
stream of art has been effectively used
in many ways in the movements for
language, autonomy, liberation, culture
and democracy. Following the language
movement in 1952, a memorial was
constructed to commemorate the
martyrs. Within a short period,
memorials of a similar structure were
built throughout the country. Elaborate
street painting (alpana) around the
memorials and the morning processions
of numerous people towards these
structures on the twenty-first February
of every year can be considered an
installation and performance. In the
post-colonial social practices, this can
fig. 6.17 Muharram, be considered as a precursor of Conceptual Art and new trends - considering the
Tajia procession, Old importance of space, architecture and ceremonial activities. The year 1952, and later,
Dhaka, 2003 the twenty-first February, the Language Martyrs Day, added a new dimension to the
national life of Bangladesh. Commemorating the Martyrs Day, Quamrul Hassan
created the Aksharbriksha (alphabet tree). In the local mainstream art, the
Aksharbriksha (fig. 8.11) can be considered as a primary example of installation
created without any foreign inspiration.
As mentioned earlier, Bangladesh is a marginal post-colonial nation in South Asia.
Almost two hundred years of colonial rule (1757-1947) disrupted the continuity of
local mainstream art, as it did in the other areas. During and after the colonial era,
sustaining the continuity of the local culture with its independence and uniqueness
became somewhat impossible. In the post-colonial era, the colonial residue was still
active in the artistic and cultural outlook of this region. Thus, the habitual looking
towards the west continued, more or less, to be present in the successive arts. In most
cases, visual imitation became a standard feature, rather than independent acceptance
or rejection of concepts. The profusion of abstract art in the 50s and 60s can be cited
as examples of this phenomenon. The experiencing of the new trends in art in the 80s
and the consequent practices in the 90s is still a movement under process. It has the
potential to develop its own unique characteristics; but at the same time, there is an
equal possibility of its becoming a post-colonial practice of imitative and unoriginal
nature. Hamdi el Attar, a professor of Egyptian origin of the University of Kassel in
Germany has been organizing Innenseite, as an alternative non-European exhibition
alongside Dokumenta. His opinion about the western perspective on the recent
developments in Conceptual Art is, ‘The Europeans and Americans are moving in