Dealing with issues of space, territory, medium and politics

An ongoing group show at the Guild in Mumbai offers the chance to engage with political and personal narratives of the issues of borders, exchange, displacement and relationships with regard to the geopolitics at play between neighboring countries.

Five artists of Bangladeshi origin explore issues of space, borders, territory, medium, politics and disputed solutions. Each artist has a strong individual reflection of issues related to the notion of ‘Barbed Floss’ and express it through their use of medium and renewed association with their personal experiences, histories and country.

The borders in the sub-continent were drawn with the first partition of 1947. In 1971, after the second partition and Bangladesh’s independence, the non-permeable Indo-Bangladeshi barrier was created. This barbed fence wire is considered to be the fifth longest border in the world. Ethnicities, communities, houses were all partitioned and allotted different nationalities, depending on which side of the political borders they fell.

A curatorial essay states: ““To drag a line, to separate, the barbed wire went across the middle of the green field, road, yard and even the middle of the house in some areas. But the people who have the same blood flowing through their vein (and vain), have the same provisions, mounting up in the same area and lived simultaneously for thousands of years...how can a border separate them being together? Is it possible to divide with a boundary marker?!”

Promotesh Das Pulak’s installation of ‘Twins’ in an incubator, created out of the beautiful white shoal flowers, depicts the betrayal of innocence and beauty through rules and laws that destroyed faith and togetherness unblinkingly. The position of the twins inside the incubator acts as a vulnerable metaphor of sharing food, oxygen and physical attributions. This work alludes to the notion of partition, division and separation in marked territories that once shared similar histories, cultures and identities.

Tayeba Begum Lipi (b. 1969), completed her MFA from the Institute of Fine Arts at the University of Dhaka. She has exhibited her works widely in Bangladesh as well as internationally in several renowned institutes.  Mahbubur Rahman (b. 1969), completed his MFA in Drawing and Painting from the Institute of Fine Arts at the University of Dhaka. His works and performances have been widely exhibited in solo exhibitions and group shows in Bangladesh as well as internationally in several renowned museums and institutes; as well as at the Bangladesh pavilion at the 54th Venice Biennale.

Anisuzzaman Sohel (b. 1973) completed his BFA from the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Dhaka. His works have been exhibited widely in Dhaka and he has been a part of several group shows internationally, including Britto, Kunstvlaai in Amsterdam (2012). He has participated in several workshops and is currently based and working in Dhaka.