Barbed Memories

Five Bangladeshi artists explore the impact of borders on their lives

To Dhaka-based artist Anisuzzaman Sohel,borders the ones drawn on land or those created in our heads not only divide the physical space but also restrict a flow of thought and an exchange of ideas. Sohel,who is a child of the 1971 partition,says these barriers damage a sense of community. So when curator Veeranganakumari Solanki approached him for an exhibition to document the estrangement that Bangladesh faced during the partitions of 1947 and 1971,the concepts for the show came naturally to him.

Three months later,Solanki roped in four more Dhaka-based artistsMahbub Rahman,Molla Sagar,Promotesh Das Pulak and Tayeba Begum Lipi for Barbed Floss,a show that is currently on display at The Guild Art Gallery in Colaba till August 24. Through different mediums,the artists explore the issues of space,borders,politics and disputed solutions.

Their work is not only detailed on the surface but is heavily layered with personal experiences. The acrylic and graffiti paintings by Sohel flowers surrounded by daggers,or birds behind barbed wires capture the contrast of Bangladesh,his beautiful country and its scarring through partition.

Rahman,on the other hand,explores partition through installations made of fused surgical scissors. The ceiling of the gallery hosts an installation by him called Pocket,which is a hollow mask and a sphere with a cavity. With the mask I wanted to project the mental torture families faced because of land being divided, he says.

In her work,From 1.7 million mi² To 55,598 mi²,Lipi dissects the 1.7 million square mile subcontinent into maps of India,Bangladesh and Pakistan in circular steel frames encased by razor blades. When I thought about the theme,the power of physical space of a country struck me. It made me think how we are mere pawns in the game within which a quick unwise decision has made the geography as well as its demography helpless forever.

The partition also has created a sense of longing that is explored by Sagar in an eight-minute video,titled Songs of Estrangement. The artist has recorded a song sung in the brothels of Mongla,a port in Bangladesh. The song was written by Bijoy Sarkar,the folk singer who stayed back in East Pakistan post partition,but was forced out of his home in 1974. Pulak captures the separation affecting innocent lives through his installation,Twins.

amruta.lakhe@expressindia.com

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