The Dhaka Art Summit (DAS) is an international, non-commercial research and exhibition platform for art and architecture related to South Asia. With a core focus on Bangladesh, DAS re-examines how we think about these forms of art in both a regional and an international context. PARTNERS TEAM DAS 2023 considers the ways in which we inherit and form vocabularies to understand the world around us, and the mistranslation that can ensue when we try to apply these vocabularies to unfamiliar contexts; the same word can migrate from positive to negative connotations and back depending on how and where it travels. Weather and water as shapers of history and culture as well as being metaphors for life in general are viewed in an embodied way through the lens of those who live in Bangladesh, next to the sea and rivers, underneath the storm systems, feeling the wind and rain. This is further explored through a consideration of how Bengali children encounter these phenomena, palpably but also via the stories passed down through generations. The aim is to see past the limits of translation which can be incapable of conveying the different ways we negotiate the world, and open up new channels for transcultural empathy. How do you tell the story of a crisis, while facilitating hope? The Dhaka Art Summit (DAS) is an international, non-commercial research and exhibition platform for art and architecture related to South Asia. With a core focus on Bangladesh, DAS re-examines how we think about these forms of art in both a regional and an international context. Exhibitions & Programmes বন্যা (Bonna) DAS 2023 Samdani Art Award Exhibition DAS 2023 Curated by Anne Barlow Very Small Feelings DAS 2023 Co-curated by Diana Campbell and Akansha Rastogi with Ruxmini Choudhury To Enter The Sky DAS 2023 Curated by Sean Anderson দ্বৈধ (A Duality) DAS 2023 Curated by Bishwajit Goswami with research support from Muhammad Nafisur Rahman, in collaboration with Brihatta Art Foundation Art Mediation Programme 2023 DAS 2023 Dhaka Art Summit Purposeful Goods DAS 2023 Curated by Teresa Albor Talks Programme DAS 2023 Dhaka Art Summit 2023 LOAD MORE Bonna is the fifth chapter under the Artistic Direction of Chief Curator Diana Campbell and is complemented by a series of intersecting exhibitions including the Samdani Art Award curated by Anne Barlow (Director, Tate St. Ives), To Enter the Sky curated by Sean Anderson (Associate Professor and Undergraduate Program Director at Cornell University’s Department of Architecture), দ্বৈধ(a duality) curated by Bishwajit Goswami (Assistant Professor, Department of Drawing and Painting, University of Dhaka) with research support from Muhammad Nafisur Rahman (Assistant Professor of Communication Design at the School of Design, College of DAAP, University of Cincinnati) in collaboration with Brihatta Art Foundation, and Very Small Feelings, co-curated by Campbell and Akansha Rastogi (Senior Curator, Kiran Nadar Museum of Art) with Ruxmini Choudhury (Curator, Samdani Art Foundation), and a transnational folklore research team with contributions from Kanak Chanpa Chakma and other indigenous thought leaders connecting traditions across Bangladesh and Northeast India. DAS is a continually unfolding story imagined by hundreds of contributors, and this edition will include over 120 artists, architects, and writers, over 60% Bangladeshi, and over 50% producing new work for the show. Rather, the DAS concept of Bonna challenges binaries - between necessity and excess, between regeneration and disaster, between adult and child, between male and female. DAS 2023 invokes and interprets Bonna as a complex symbol system, which is Indigenous, personal, and at once universal, an embodied non-human reversal of how storms, cyclones, tsunamis, stars, and all environment crises, and discoveries are named, allowing Bonna, the young girl, to speak from Bangladesh to the world; she asks why the words for weather are gendered, what the relationship between gender, the built environment, and climate change might be. During Bengali New Year, Bangladeshi people sing a song written by Rabindranath Tagore, Esho he Boishakh , which calls upon the first month of summer to bring storms to wash away any residue of ugliness from the previous year: “'Bring forth and sound your conch of storm, Let the foggy mesh of ugly illusion be gone.” Ebb and flow, drought and abundance are phenomena that have shaped the culture and history of Bangladesh (and South Asia) just as a river cuts an ever-changing path as it seeks lower ground. When considering this, and the traditional ways of coping and celebrating polar forces, we must acknowledge that climate change is accelerating and causing even more dramatic events, often beyond the capacity of even the most resilient people’s ability to survive. During the planning stages of DAS 2023, the north-western part of the country was overwhelmed with severe flooding and we are releasing the thematics of Dhaka Art Summit at a time when devastating floods and the many lives lost and made precarious in South Asia demand our urgent attention. This is a sobering instruction to consider the implications during DAS 2023 for a country that has always managed to co-exist with extremes. The word for flood, ‘Bonna,’ is also given as a common name for girls in Bangladesh. A flood in Bangladesh does not simply translate into the dominant idea of the word flood carrying a singular connotation of “disaster.” Storms have eyes and eyes have storms. We can be flooded with emotions, yet reduced to singular drops of tears. We give storms human names; we describe human emotions using terms that are also applied to weather. A tropical cyclone in the Bay of Bengal was captured in the iconic “Blue Marble'' image of the Earth in 1972, the first full image of the Earth taken from space and one of the most circulated images of all time. The Bangladeshi artist and climate justice activist Nabil Ahmed points out that the cyclone in this image derives “from the same tropical storm system that produced Bhola, which devastated the coast of East Pakistan in November 1970. In its aftermath followed a genocide and war of national liberation for present-day Bangladesh. After Bhola, looking at a cyclone will never be the same; the potential for political violence and an ever-circling wind are united as one.” Extreme weather and the absence of state management was the tipping point for Bangladeshis to declare independence in 1971 and fight for the right to express themselves in their own language. As the Ghanaian-Scottish designer, thinker, and educator Lesley Lokko insightfully points out, “When you are in the eye of the storm, this is often the right point to push for maximum change.” DAS 2023 aimed to listen to the lands and waters of Bangladesh and its people to tell stories and imagine futures where people regard what the planet and non-human bits of intelligence have to say, as opposed to the clock or the calendar. DAS 2023 was about the power of water and the double paradox of how floods and their impact may be (mis)understood. Bonna is also concerned with the power of translation– how do Bangladeshi understandings of life challenge those who might have only understood the flood and its manifestations as a mistranslation and those now experiencing similar climatic challenges? By extension, the Bangladeshi artist and researcher Shawon Akand expands upon mud as a metaphor for the adaptive power of Bengalis; mud can be hard as stone when baked under the summer sun, a fertile bed for crops during the harvest season, and liquid during the monsoon, all without losing its essence.

The Dhaka Art Summit (DAS) is an international, non-commercial research and exhibition platform for art and architecture related to South Asia. With a core focus on Bangladesh, DAS re-examines how we think about these forms of art in both a regional and an international context. PARTNERS TEAM The 1st edition of the Summit was held in collaboration with Shilpakala Academy and Bangladesh National Museum and showcased the works of 249 artists and 19 galleries . The 1st edition of the Summit focused only on the local artists and galleries. The Summit was visited by over 40,000 visitors The Summit also organised talks. The Dhaka Art Summit (DAS) is an international, non-commercial research and exhibition platform for art and architecture related to South Asia. With a core focus on Bangladesh, DAS re-examines how we think about these forms of art in both a regional and an international context. Samdani Art Foundation also awarded the Samdani Artist Development Award to Khaled Hasan and Samdani Young Talent Award to Musrat Reazi at the closing ceremony of Dhaka Art Summit. The award was judged by a panel of international judges that consisted of Kyla McDonald, Assistant Curator from Tate Modern Museum; Deepak Ananth, a professor at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in France; Elaine W. Ng, Editor and Publisher of Art Asia Pacific Magazine; Bose Krishnamachari, founder of Kochi Biennale; renowned artist Ravinder Reddy from India, and Paris-based Bangladeshi artist Shahabuddin Ahmed.

Samdani Art Foundation (SAF) has been collaborating with artists, architects, curators, writers, and thinkers to shift how culture is experienced around the world by creating opportunities for profound encounters with Bangladesh Connect with Bangladesh's Cultural Narratives Go PRESS NEWSLETTER Samdani Art Foundation (SAF) has been collaborating with artists, architects, curators, writers, and thinkers to shift how culture is experienced around the world by creating opportunities for profound encounters with Bangladesh Founded in 2011 by collector couple Nadia and Rajeeb Samdani, Samdani Art Foundation (SAF) believes that the planet has much to learn from Bangladesh and South Asia and it supports research for curators to ground their thinking with experience thinking and working in the region. Its international collaborations (which know no geographic borders) seek to expand creative horizons and collapse outdated frameworks for considering art and culture within the limited frameworks of North American and Eurocentrism. All of SAF’s education and exhibition programs are free and ticketless, and the foundation supports the production of new thinking through residencies, exhibition opportunities, and other programs that it produces with its partners. The foundation has developed and continues to produce the Dhaka Art Summit, the world’s highest daily visited contemporary art event that is now entering its seventh edition. DAS is part of the foundation’s ongoing work of expanding The audience engaging with contemporary art across Bangladesh and increasing international exposure for artistic practices that do not lie within the "art capitals of the world” or which have not yet been written into the limited canon of art history. OUR STORY PARTNERS TEAM ALL PROJECTS SAF produces and participates in a variety of projects in Bangladesh and around the world as part of its ongoing commitment to increasing cultural engagement in Bangladesh and broadening the creative horizons of the country’s artists and architects. Initiatives SAF participates in a variety of projects, outside of the Foundation's regular programming, as part of a commitment to increasing world-wide engagement with the work of Bangladeshi and South Asian contemporary artists and architects. SAF assists and supports Bangladeshi artists in participating in art exhibitions and festivals around the world, and follows the international tours of projects it has produced as they grow and develop in the world. SAF AROUND THE WORLD VIEW The Samdani Artist-Led Initiatives Forum is an initiative committed to supporting the work of Bangladesh’s independently established and self-funded art collectives and initiatives. Launched in 2017, this program will be revitalized in 2025 in partnership with Srihatta. ARTIST-LED INITIATIVES VIEW SAF participates in a variety of projects, outside of the Foundation's regular programming, as part of a commitment to increasing world-wide engagement with the work of Bangladeshi and South Asian contemporary artists and architects. The Foundation assists in funding travel grants that enable artists to attend residencies or undertake research abroad and supports international institutions and festivals to include South Asian artists within their exhibitions and programmes. COLLABORATIONS VIEW The annual Samdani Seminars are a lecture and workshop programme that facilitates engagement between international arts professionals and local communities across Bangladesh through participatory artworks, lectures, and workshops. Open to all and free, the Seminar programme complements the existing syllabi of Bangladesh's leading educational institutions covering the mediums and subjects not currently included while expanding the audience engaging with art. SEMINARS VIEW Most SAF publications are available for free download on our website. SAF partners with institutions who publish books related to ongoing collaborations in Bangladesh, which can be ordered online. PUBLICATIONS VIEW The Art Mediation Program plays a pivotal role in bridging the gap between art and its audience, enriching the cultural experience for visitors through meaningful engagement and interpretation. Established in 2018, the program began with 25 Art Mediators at the Dhaka Art Summit, and as our February 2023 the program has grown in depth and scope with the collaboration of 123 mediators. These art mediators come from diverse backgrounds, ranging from fine art to political studies, mechanical engineering, journalism, etc, all sharing a common enthusiasm for art. ART MEDIATION PROGRAMME VIEW Recent Projects PREVIOUS ALL NEXT VIEW Crafting Togetherness is a collaborative programme initiated and led by Samdani Art Foundation, developed at Srihatta, Samdani Art Centre and Sculpture Park in Sylhet. The programme brings together local artisans and architecture students through workshops and knowledge exchanges focused on sustainable, vernacular building practices. Crafting Togetherness VIEW Deadline: 16th December 2025 তন্দ্রা /TONDRA OPEN CALL FOR LOGO DESIGN VIEW A collaborative film project developed at Srihatta, exploring Bangladesh’s six seasons through a poetic collaboration between Driant Zeneli and young Bangladeshi artists. When Winds in Monsoon Play, the White Peacock Will Sweep Away (2025) VIEW A project commissioned by the Samdani Art Foundation, uniting ten Bangladeshi artists with international curators and mentors to create score-based works that explore the space between dreams and reality, unfolding across global partner institutions in 2026. TONDRA VIEW The Six Seasons of the White Peacock VIEW Srihatta Love- Power- Fall , Master Class Load More @samdaniartfoundation @dhakaartsummit Load More About Upcoming DAS 2023 2020 2018 2016 2014 2012 The Dhaka Art Summit (DAS) is an international, non-commercial research and exhibition platform for art and architecture related to South Asia. With a core focus on Bangladesh, DAS re-examines how we think about these forms of art in both a regional and an international context. Dhaka Art Summit INITIATIVES EXPLORE DAS 2023 aimed to listen to the lands and waters of Bangladesh and its people to tell stories and imagine futures where people regard what the planet and non-human bits of intelligence have to say, as opposed to the clock or the calendar. DAS 2023 was about the power of water and the double paradox of how floods and their impact may be (mis)understood. Bonna was also concerned with the power of translation– how do Bangladeshi understandings of life challenge those who might have only understood the flood and its manifestations as a mistranslation and those now experiencing similar climatic challenges? Bonna DAS EXPLORE Inspired by the geological reading of the word ‘summit’ as the top of a mountain, Seismic Movements: Dhaka Art Summit 2020 (DAS 2020) considers the various ruptures that have realigned and continue to shift the face of our spinning planet. Seismic movements do not adhere to statist or nationalist frameworks. They join and split apart tectonics of multiple scales and layers; their epicentres don’t privilege historical imperial centres over the so-called peripheries; they can slowly accumulate or violently erupt in an instant. Seismic Movements DAS EXPLORE The fourth edition of the Dhaka Art Summit (DAS) took place from 2 to 10 February 2018, featuring both an Opening Celebration Weekend (February 2–4) and a closing Scholars’ Weekend (February 8–10), and several tiers of new programming. Produced and primarily funded by the Samdani Art Foundation, DAS 2018 was held in a public-private partnership with the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, the country’s National Academy of Fine and Performing Arts, with support from the Ministry of Cultural Affairs and Ministry of Information of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, the National Tourism Board, the Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA), and in association with the Bangladesh National Museum. 2018 DAS EXPLORE The third edition of Dhaka Art Summit welcomed 138,000 visitors in four days, of which 800 were international visitors, and 2,500 students from 30+ schools. Those participating included over 300 emerging and established artists, 100 speakers who attended as part of the Talks Programme, as well as internationally renowned curators and writers. The Summit attracted visitors from over 70 international institutions, who attended to extend and further their research into the region. 2016 DAS EXPLORE The 2nd edition of the Dhaka Art Summit unfolded from February 7 to 9, 2014 at the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy. Marking a strategic shift, the Summit decided to concentrate its focus on South Asia starting from this edition. DAS 2014 showcased a diverse array of programs, including five curatorial exhibitions by both international and Bangladeshi curators, along with 14 solo art projects curated by Diana Campbell Betancourt, the Artistic Director of the Samdani Foundation. These projects celebrated artists from across South Asia. The summit encompassed a citywide public art initiative, performances, the screening of experimental films, speaker panels, and the active participation of 15 Bangladeshi and 17 South Asia-focused galleries. 2014 DAS EXPLORE The 1st edition of the Summit was held in collaboration with Shilpakala Academy and Bangladesh National Museum and showcased the works of 249 artists and 19 galleries. The 1st edition of the Summit focused only on the local artists and galleries. The Summit was visited by over 40,000 visitors The Summit also organised talks. 2012 DAS EXPLORE Our curators and art mediators have been dreaming up the 7th edition of DAS - TONDRA. In TONDRA we will float between dreams and reality. The meaning of the word TONDRA in Bangla can be described as a state of existence where reality and dreams collide; a lucid dream that captivates the soul. Upcoming DAS DAS EXPLORE No events at the moment Notices 74 The Samdani Art Foundation collaborates with artists and creatives globally, fostering a diverse and inclusive artistic community. Countries 6 The 6th edition of the Dhaka Art Summit was held in February 2023 Dhaka Art Summits 248 Projects 1919 Participants Rising from the red tinted alluvial soil of Sylhet , Northeast Bangladesh, Srihatta is the future home of the Samdani Art Foundation, rooted in the plurality found in Bangladesh’s history to conjure a more inclusive future through art, architecture , and culture. A unique combination of sculpture park, exhibition, residency, and education programme , Srihatta imagines what an experimental artist-centric institution can be in the 21st Century, beyond of western-centric paradigms. Founded by Nadia and Rajeeb Samdani and led by Artistic Director Diana Campbell, this art centre and sculpture park will also feature works from their collection and will be free and open to the public in 2025. INITIATIVES EXPLORE

ALL PROJECTS Let me get you a nice cup of tea Tate, London Yasmin Jahan Nupur’s work "Let me get you a nice cup of tea' 2019-2020 acquired by Tate, is currently on display at the Tate Modern. While she joins a great group of Bangladeshi artists in the collection, she is the first Bangladeshi artist whose work is being displayed at Tate as part of their permanent collection. This is a historic moment we are proud to be a part of - especially when it comes to mediums like performance which are not always the most simple works to collect. SAF worked on this project curatorially to support Yasmin Jahan Nupur from the start of an idea as one of the first DAS 2020 commissions to a presentation in our Artisitc Director Diana Campbell’s Frieze London program for Frieze LIVE in 2019 developed in partnership with a research residency DAS facilitated with Peabody Essex, further working with the artist as her ideas expanded into what was experienced at DAS 2020. Exhibit320 supported the initial presentation in London and so many people from around the world contributed to the development of this live piece through sharing their research knowledge.

Rising from the red tinted alluvial soil of Sylhet, Northeast Bangladesh, Srihatta is the future home of the Samdani Art Foundation, rooted in the plurality found in Bangladesh’s history to conjure a more inclusive future through art, architecture, and culture. A unique combination of sculpture park, exhibition, residency, and education programme, Srihatta imagines what an experimental artist-centric institution can be in the 21st Century, beyond of western-centric paradigms. Srihatta Rising from the red-tinted alluvial soil of Sylhet , Northeast Bangladesh, Srihatta is the future home of the Samdani Art Foundation, rooted in the plurality found in Bangladesh’s history to conjure a more inclusive future through art, architecture , and culture. A unique combination of sculpture park, exhibition, residency, and education programme , Srihatta imagines what an experimental artist-centric institution can be in the 21st Century, beyond of western-centric paradigms. Founded by Nadia and Rajeeb Samdani and led by Artistic Director Diana Campbell, this art centre and sculpture park will also feature works from their collection and will be free and open to the public in 2025. A lush and green rural tea district approximately 250km (or a 45 minute flight) from the capital city of Dhaka, and Sylhet International Airport has direct flights from London, Dubai, and Abu Dhabi. There are nearly 800,000 people living in Sylhet, and Sylhetis form a significant part of the Bangladeshi diaspora in the United Kingdom, United States, and Middle East. Founders Nadia and Rajeeb Samdani are both from Sylhet and Srihatta is part of their long-term dream to share their love of art and this region with artists and the public. The roughly 40-minute drive to Srihatta from the airport is a journey through the agriculture landscapes of Sylhet through villages built around winding rivers and tea plantations built on hilly mounds punctuating an otherwise flat landscape. The many paddy fields make the landscape appear like a massive waterbody during the rainy season. Srihatta’s landscaping will be inspired by the wild natural wonders of the lands around the site which include gnarled mangrove swamp forests, turquoise rivers, and multicoloured sand hills and the art gallery will appear to float within a lush grassy paddy field. Reflecting the energy and vibrancy of the Bangladeshi people, Srihatta will be a live, active, changing and dynamic space with an emphasis on process, which differs from traditional ideas of sculpture parks and artists will be at the centre of this project via Srihatta’s international residency programme. Srihatta spans across more than one hundred acres of landscape with views of India’s Assam Hills in the distance. ABOUT SYLHET EXPLORE SECTORS Our Focus Areas Sectors Aga Khan Award winning Bangladeshi architect Kashef Mahboob Chowdhury (URBANA) has envisioned the initial phase of Srihatta as an open plan design that references the vernacular brick architecture of Bangladesh, a practice dating back to 3rd Century BC. The architecture looks to the modernist legacy left by visionary architects such as Muzharul Islam and Louis Kahn, who built some of their best work in Bangladesh, including the Dhaka University Library (1953-1954) and Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban (Parliament House, 1961-1982). Aligned with the ideology of the Samdani Art Foundation, Chowdhury’s architecture is born from the land of Sylhet: the brick-dyed concrete found in Srihatta’s built environment is derived from the colour of the soil on site. Architecture 01 A 10,000-square-foot residency space houses eleven brick-dyed, cast-concrete apartments, with windows facing Srihatta’s landscape. Created as a meditative space to inspire creativity and mesmerize the senses, these apartments have 11-foot ceilings – each with a different species of local scented tree to grow inside. The apartments, dining, recreation, and reading spaces are visually linked by plazas and walkways made of local green-tinged grey Kota stone. Blending the residency space with the surrounding landscape and sculpture park, the complex will exhibit works from the Foundation’s collection on a rotating basis. The first phase of the residency will begin with the Samdani Art Award short-listed artists from 2020 and 2023 as our first invited artists in residence. In addition to residencies with local and international artists, Srihatta will also host writing and curatorial residencies as part of a wider initiative of training a new generation of arts professionals in Bangladesh. The Residency program will be organized by SAF, with additional collaborations with international foundations and cultural councils, and independent from the Samdani’s collecting activities. Residency Spaces 02 Kashef Mahboob Chowdhury has also designed the first of several future gallery spaces at Srihatta. An undulating brick façade welcomes visitors into a 5,000 square-foot gallery with 14-foot ceilings anchored by an immersive installation of video, sound, and expanded cinema works from the Samdani collection by Cardiff and Miller, Olafur Eliasson, Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Anthony McCall, and Lucy Raven which challenge boundaries between mediums. These expanded cinema works are also imagined as a teaching tool for artists in Bangladesh, where video/new media is not part of the art school curriculum. Future galleries will be built to allow for rotating temporary exhibitions produced by the Samdani Art Foundation. Galleries 03 Envisioned as a dynamic art centre, Srihatta embraces inclusivity with a welcoming design, an accessible public programme, and outdoor public works which engage the local community in their conception and production. More than just a private art museum, Srihatta aspires to cultivate a new community of art lovers in Bangladesh and the surrounding region. As with all Samdani Art Foundation activities, entry to Srihatta will be free, in an attempt to make art widely accessible to diverse audiences. Srihatta’s programming complements – but remains autonomous from the Dhaka Art Summit ( www.dhakaartsummit.org ). Led by Samdani Art Foundation’s Founding Artistic Director Diana Campbell, Srihatta encourages engagement with Bangladesh’s rural context. The organization will invest its roots locally – and broaden them internationally – by inviting artists, curators, architects, and writers from around the world to participate in its exhibitions, residencies, interventions in the landscape, and to engage in creative workshops with the local community. Srihatta is inspired by the ethos of Rabindranath Tagore, who created Shantiniketan in a village in West Bengal in 1901 – where the whole world could meet in a single nest. Artistic Programme URBANA’s plan for the landscape design embraces the natural phenomena that surround the site: winding rivers, a swamp forest, golden hills made of sand, and flaming natural-gas-fields with views of India’s Assam Hills and Sylhet’s tea gardens in the distance. Site-sensitive commissions by artists from Bangladesh and around the world will further transform the landscape. The first phase of architectural elements of Srihatta takes up less than a half-acre of the 100-acre property, with the majority of the grounds comprising a sculpture park. We don’t imagine a sculpture park as a space hosting static sculptures to be maintained in a landscape. Our expanded vision of a sculpture park invites artistic experiments with the weather as well as the human and non-human forms of life that inhabit our site and collaborate with the vision of artists. Over the past 9 years, Srihatta has been welcoming artists to develop long-term projects for the site, asking that each engage with the site and surrounding community. Once open, Srihatta will include a mix of permanent works, temporary works, and works on long-term loan, in an attempt to make Srihatta a living, evolving entity that changes regularly and welcomes repeat visits. All of the works in the sculpture park will be produced in Bangladesh, as part of the Foundation’s desire to engage the local community with craftsmanship and production, fostering collaboration as a tool for greater understanding. Sculpture Park While Srihatta officially opens in 2025, the first work for the Park, ‘Rokeya’, was completed in February 2017 after two years of development – and speaks to the socially engaged practices that the institution plans to regularly host. As part of the annual Samdani Seminars programme, Polish artist Paweł Althamer – along with members of his community (neighbours) from Bródno, Poland – engaged patients of Protisruti (the Promise) drug rehabilitation centre in Sylhet and the local community in an eight-day-long creative and collaborative Sculptural Congress workshop. This first project at Srihatta was realized in partnership with Bródno Sculpture Park, which Pawel Althamer inaugurated in 2009 with the Museum of Modern Art Warsaw. Bridging understanding across social and cultural divides, they created the communal work of art, ‘Rokeya’, which the village children named after the nineteenth century pioneer of female education in Bangladesh, Begum Rokeya. The resulting sculpture was a reclining woman constructed of locally woven palm fronds over a bamboo frame. She wears a colourful fabric costume stitched from local textiles by nearby village women, who also helped to drape the fabric. ‘Rokeya’ also contains a kiln inside, for village children to use in ceramic workshops. Srihatta continued its collaboration with Bródno Sculpture Park into 2019 with Polish artist Monika Sosnowska who created a monumental concrete river that becomes a walking path through the landscape. Here tributaries meander through and disappear into unexpected places, allowing for contemplation of one’s surroundings. The piece ties back to the natural terrain of Bangladesh, which has over 700 rivers (and is officially the country with the most rivers within its borders). Indian artist Asim Waqif is working on a monumental living sculpture titled ‘Bamsera Bamsi’ (meaning Bamboo flute in Bangla). The sculpture is envisioned as a living bamboo forest, consisting of several bamboo species researched and planted as part of a long-term collaboration with the Bangladesh Forest Research Institute, Chittagong. As it grows, Waqif is sculpting the forest into a sculptural wind instrument reminiscent of a flute, which will emit sound when the wind blows through it. ‘Bamsera Bamsi’ will take nearly twenty years to complete. The initial size of the work is 140 x 100 ft and will expand as the project develops. The interwoven Animist, Hindu, Buddhist, Sufi mystic, and Islamic histories that inform Sylhet’s plurality and distinct language remain powerfully visible in Bengali folk culture. Srihatta’s name is an homage to the multiple layers of history that have shaped this rich landscape; it is the ancient Indo-Aryan term for Sylhet. In this area once there was abundance of rocks know as shila. The hat (bazaar) sat on top of these rocks. The name of Sylhet was derived from the words ‘Shila’ and ‘Hat’ as Shila-Hat - to form Shilhatta. The last Hindu King Raja Gour Govinda kept large stones for protection at the entrance of his capital Shilhatta, whose name was transformed over time into Srihatta – with sri meaning, beauty, charm and wealth. The early 14th century brought the beginnings of Islamic culture and rule to Sylhet via the Middle Eastern Sufi mystic Hazrat Shahjalal and his 313 companions. On his arrival to the capital, Hazrat Shahjalal commanded the rocks to move away by uttering the term ‘Shill Hot’ (move away, stones), and local legend has it that the rocks moved to usher in a new era and the name Silhet came into existence. During the British colonial rule over the region, the word Sylhet was introduced to make ‘Silhet’ sound distinct from ‘Silchar’ (a town in Assam). Sylhet was a strategic location for the British during the colonial era because of its proximity to Burma and China. ABOUT THE NAME SRIHATTA

ALL PROJECTS Metropolitan Museum of Art Donation The Met, New York, 2019 An untitled tapestry by Rashid Choudhury (1932–1986), recently gifted to The Met by Nadia and Rajeeb Samdani, is the first work of art made by a visual artist in independent Bangladesh to join the Museum's collection. While The Met does hold pre-modern works that are attributed to the region of Eastern Bengal, Untitled (1981) is a significant and major addition to the Museum's collection of modern and contemporary art because it broadens the department's remit of collecting and preserving important modern works from South Asia. Untitled, now on view in gallery 399, presents an abstract and multifaceted twist of earth tones, with hints of orange and sections of light blue. I find that there is an arresting dynamism to the central component of the tapestry: it appears as a symphony of elongated and fragmented vertical shapes, which intertwine with each other in a way that is remarkably evocative of a body—or perhaps numerous bodies—in motion. This important work is a telling example of Choudhury's visual language, which is distinctly modernist and aesthetically innovative, but is also situated within a particular historical and cultural context. Choudhury dedicated himself to the modern art movement in his country through his work as a teacher and community facilitator. In his own work he sought expression through a medium that was very demanding in practical terms and that was less-highly regarded as fine art when compared to painting and sculpture at the time. Nevertheless, he developed his own visual idiom, which drew from the rich, historic traditions of South Asian iconography as well as his studies in Europe. As is evident in his three tapestries at The Met, Choudhury distilled these varied pre-modern and modern forms to create works with a phenomenological impact—one that feels not only effortless, but also transportive. The whole text written by DAS 2016 curator Shanay Jhaveri can be found here. This is the second donation from the Foundation's collection, distributing the knowledge of Bangladeshi art history through the research conducted during the Dhaka Art Summit. Image: Installation view of three tapestries by Rashid Choudhury. At center is a recent addition to The Met collection, and at left and right are two loans from The Samdani Art Foundation. Image credit: MET

The Samdani Art Award, Bangladesh's premier art award, has created an internationally recognised platform to showcase the work of young Bangladeshi Artists to an audience of international arts professionals. Rasel Chowdhury b. 1981, Noakhali WINNER Rasel Chowdhury is a Dhaka-based artist whose passion lies in documenting environmental issues using camera. Born in Jamalpur, he started working in photography without a conscious plan, and eventually became addicted and decided to document spaces in and around Bangladesh. He obtained a degree from Pathshala, South Asian Media Institute in 2012. His body of work deals with unplanned desperate urbanization, the dying River Buriganga, the lost city of Sonargaon, the Mega City of Dhaka, and newly transformed spaces around Bangladesh railroads to explore the change of the environment, unplanned urban structures and new form of landscapes. The Samdani Art Award exhibition included his photography series Railway Longings. This series showed his contemplative approach to the railroad which was once the only way to reach his birthplace of Jamalpur from Dhaka. He walked along the railway line from one station to another, covering the full 181 km long journey by foot, photographing his nostalgic experience, and documenting the changes in the landscape and rail structures along the route. Samdani Art Award 2016 INTERVIEW SELECTION COMMITTEE Cosmin Costinas (Director, Para/Site) Catherine David(Deputy Director, Centre Pompidou) Beatrix Ruf (Director, Stedelijk Museum) Aaron Seeto (Director, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Nusantara (MACAN)) Chaired by Aaron Cezar (Director, Delfina Foundation) IN PARTNERSHIP WITH Pro Helvetia Swiss Arts Council Delfina Foundation Samdani Art Foundation The 2016 edition of the Samdani Art Award exhibition was guest curated by Daniel Baumann, Director of the Kunsthalle Zurich, assisted by Ruxmini Choudhury, Assistant Curator Samdani Art Foundation, and artist Ayesha Sultana. During the Summit, the jury selected Rasel Chowdhury as the recipient of the 2016 award. Announced during the DAS 2016 Opening Dinner on the 5 February by Kiran Nadar, Chairperson of the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art and Trustee of the Shiv Nadar Foundation in New Delhi, Chowdhury received a six-week residency with the Delfina Foundation in London which he undertook in the Autumn of 2016. SAMDANI ART AWARD 2016 SHORTLIST Zihan Karim Installation image of Viewers are Present (2016), in the Cheragi Art Show 5 exhibition. Courtesy of the artist. b. 1986 Shumon Ahmed Land of the Free (2009). Courtesy of the artist and Project88. b. 1977, Dhaka Shimul Shaha It Seems to be Known (2016), back-lit x-ray plates. Courtesy of the artist. b. 1983 Samsul Alam Helal Runaway Lovers (15 September 2016), photography. Courtesy of the artist. b. 1985 Salma Abedin Prithi Dear love (2012), photography and text. Courtesy of the artist. b. 1985, Dhaka Rupam Roy Liquidity of Sound (2016), marker pen wall drawing as part of an Open studio at Gyantapash Abdur Razzaq BidyaPeth organised by the Bengal Foundation. Courtesy of the artist. b. 1983 Palash Bhattacharjee Palash Bhattacharjee, As a matter of fact, Installation image of the exhibition "Speak" from DAS 2016, Courtesy of the artist b. 1983, Chittagong Rafiqul Shuvo Installation view of Untitled (2014-2017), in the exhibition Speak, Lokal at Kunsthalle Zürich in 2017. Courtesy of the artist and Kunsthalle Zürich. Photo credit: Annik Wetter. b. 1982, Dhaka Gazi Nafis Ahmed Coutesy of the artist. Farzana Ahmed Urmi known unknown 2 (2014), mixed media. Courtesy of the artist. b. 1980, Khulna Atish Saha (AKA. Ayon Rehal) Installation view from DAS 2016 b. 1990, Dhaka Ashit Mitra Untitled (2015), etching on zinc plate printed on paper. Courtesy of the artist. b. 1975, Dhaka 2023 2020 2018 2016 2014 2012 Award Archive

ALL PROJECTS Weaving Chakma Thailand Biennale, Chiang Rai, Chiang Rai International Art Museum (CIAM) Pablo Bartholomew's work "Weaving Chakma" (2017-2018) commissioned for the Dhaka Art Summit 2018 was shown at the 2023 Thailand Biennale, Chiang Rai 2023 at Chiang Rai International Art Museum (CIAM). The first local curatorial team of Artistic Directors Rirkrit Tiravanija and Gridthiya Gaweewong , with Curators Angkrit Ajchariyasophon and Manuporn Luengaram , explored the theme titled “The Open World” . Inspired by a Buddha statue from the 13th century at Pa Sak temple in Chiang Saen, the “Open World” concept embodies wisdom, enlightenment, and the opening up of our perceptions of art and reality, prompting contemplation on envisioning a better future. Through several bodies of work created with indigenous communities in Northeast India, Pablo Bartholomew has observed that these communities wear their cultural DNA through their clothing, ornamentation, and marking on their bodies; codes that they keep as a form of self-identity. In this work, Bartholomew traces the links between the geographically fractured indigenous community/ethnic minority Chakma in Myanmar, India, and Bangladesh.

The Samdani Art Award, Bangladesh's premier art award, has created an internationally recognised platform to showcase the work of young Bangladeshi Artists to an audience of international arts professionals. Khaled Hasan born 1981 WINNER Khaled Hasan (born 1981) began working as a photographer in 2001. At a young age he realised that photography is not just a camera play but a play of life with light and darkness. He chose to take this path and experience, culture and life at its fullest. Photography then became part of his identity—a force that makes him think, feel and understand human beings, life and more. Since then, Khaled has been working as a freelance photojournalist for several magazines in Bangladesh and internationally. His works were published in the New York Times, Sunday Times Magazine, American Photo, National Geographic Society, Better Photography, Saudi Aramco World Magazine, The Guardian, Telegraph, The Independent, The New Internationalist, Himal Southern, and many more. As an indigenous photographer, he tells narratives of the land that shaped him. Documenting stories about people and their interaction with nature, healing and surviving from times of distress, fighting for rights and toiling for food, and standing against injustice are the primary issues he features in his works. For Khaled, a story never ends; it just continues to develop, fades or becomes part of history but may still be documented through photography. This is why he believes that it is highly important to crystallise changes in life, especially the ones that would transcend times. For Khaled, being a photojournalist is not just being a very good photographer but being a socially responsible person too. He constantly finds fulfilment whenever his works benefit his community and the greater good. His involvement with the National Geographic Society, Inter-Press Service and other non-for-profit organisations in documenting cultural concerns show this passion. Samdani Art Award 2012 INTERVIEW SELECTION COMMITTEE Kyla McDonald (Assistant Curator, Tate) Deepak Ananth (Professor at the Ecole des Beaux Arts, France) Elaine W Ng (Editor and Publisher, Art Asia Pacific) Bose Krishnamachari (Founder of the Kochi Biennale) Ravinder Reddy (Artist) Shahabuddin Ahmed (Artist) The first edition of the Samdani Art Award had two prize categories: the Samdani Artist Development Award and the Samdani Young Talent Award. From 29 shortlisted artists, the jury selected artists Khaled Hasan and Musrat Reazi as the recipients of the 2012 awards. Hasan continues to practice and is now based in the United States. Reazi has recently stopped practicing to pursue other interests. 2023 2020 2018 2016 2014 2012 Award Archive Musrat Reazi born 1981 WINNER Khaled Hasan (born 1981) began working as a photographer in 2001. At a young age he realised that photography is not just a camera play but a play of life with light and darkness. He chose to take this path and experience, culture and life at its fullest. Photography then became part of his identity—a force that makes him think, feel and understand human beings, life and more. Since then, Khaled has been working as a freelance photojournalist for several magazines in Bangladesh and internationally. His works were published in the New York Times, Sunday Times Magazine, American Photo, National Geographic Society, Better Photography, Saudi Aramco World Magazine, The Guardian, Telegraph, The Independent, The New Internationalist, Himal Southern, and many more. As an indigenous photographer, he tells narratives of the land that shaped him. Documenting stories about people and their interaction with nature, healing and surviving from times of distress, fighting for rights and toiling for food, and standing against injustice are the primary issues he features in his works. For Khaled, a story never ends; it just continues to develop, fades or becomes part of history but may still be documented through photography. This is why he believes that it is highly important to crystallise changes in life, especially the ones that would transcend times. For Khaled, being a photojournalist is not just being a very good photographer but being a socially responsible person too. He constantly finds fulfilment whenever his works benefit his community and the greater good. His involvement with the National Geographic Society, Inter-Press Service and other non-for-profit organisations in documenting cultural concerns show this passion.

The Samdani Art Award, Bangladesh's premier art award, has created an internationally recognised platform to showcase the work of young Bangladeshi Artists to an audience of international arts professionals. SAMDANI ART AWARD 2023 SHORTLIST Sumi Anjuman Sumi Anjuman, হাওয়ায় নেওয়া চাঁদ, Winds carry moon, 2021-2022. Interdisciplinary medium. Commissioned and Produced by Samdani Art Foundation for DAS 2023. Courtesy of the artist and Samdani Art Foundation. Photographer: Farhad Rahman b.1989 Sohorab Rabbey Sohorab Rabbey, Almanac of an eroded land, borrowed from our children 2022-2023. Installation. Commissioned and Produced by Samdani Art Foundation for DAS 2023. Courtesy of the artist and Samdani Art Foundation. Photographer: Farhad Rahman b.1994 Rasel Rana Rasel Rana, একজন বাগানির স্বপ্ন , The Gardener’s Dream 2023. Acrylic on canvas. Commissioned and Produced by Samdani Art Foundation for DAS 2023. Courtesy of the artist and Samdani Art Foundation. Photographer: Farhad Rahman b. 1995 Rakibul Anwar Rakibul Anwar, মহানগর, Mohanagar, 2023. Drawings on paper. Commissioned and Produced by Samdani Art Foundation for DAS 2023. Courtesy of the artist and Samdani Art Foundation. Photographer: Farhad Rahman b.1993 Mojahid Musa Mojahid Musa, Assimilated Musing VI, 2022-2023. Sculptural installation using recycled materials, clay, machinery parts, wood, metal, hair, jute, ornaments, found objects from nature, adhesive. Commissioned and Produced by Samdani Art Foundation for DAS 2023. Courtesy of the artist and Samdani Art Foundation. Photographer: Farhad Rahman b. 1990 Habiba Nowrose Habiba Nowrose, Salvation, 2023. Photography. Commissioned and Produced by Samdani Art Foundation for DAS 2023. Courtesy of the artist and Samdani Art Foundation. Photographer: Farhad Rahman b.1989 Faysal Zaman Faysal Zaman, (অ )পূর্ণ, (un)filled, 2021-2023. Installation. Commissioned and Produced by Samdani Art Foundation for DAS 2023. Courtesy of the artist and Samdani Art Foundation. Photographer: Farhad Rahman b. 1996 Dipa Mahbuba Yasmin Dipa Mahbuba Yasmin in association with Md.Solayman, Md. Dulal & Jagannath Das, ঠাউর, Gaze, 2022-2023. Pinting on canvas, paper, wood. Commissioned and Produced by Samdani Art Foundation for DAS 2023. Courtesy of the artist and Samdani Art Foundation. Photographer: Farhad Rahman b.1989 Dinar Sultana Putul Dinar Sultana Putul, A space without a ship, 2023. Mixed media. Commissioned and Produced by Samdani Art Foundation for DAS 2023. Courtesy of the artist and Samdani Art Foundation. Photographer: Farhad Rahman b.1989 Ashfika Rahman Ashfika Rahman, Death of A Home, 2023. Installation. Commissioned and Produced by Samdani Art Foundation for DAS 2023. Courtesy of the artist and Samdani Art Foundation. Photographer: Farhad Rahman b. 1988 Fazla Rabbi Fatiq, মরীচিকা, Mirage 2022-2023, Photographs. Fazla Rabbi Fatiq, মরীচিকা, Mirage 2022-2023, Photographs. Fazla Rabbi Fatiq, মরীচিকা, Mirage 2022-2023, Photographs. Fazla Rabbi Fatiq, মরীচিকা, Mirage 2022-2023, Photographs. Fazla Rabbi Fatiq, মরীচিকা, Mirage 2022-2023, Photographs. Fazla Rabbi Fatiq, মরীচিকা, Mirage 2022-2023, Photographs. Fazla Rabbi Fatiq, মরীচিকা, Mirage 2022-2023, Photographs. Fazla Rabbi Fatiq, মরীচিকা, Mirage 2022-2023, Photographs. Fazla Rabbi Fatiq, মরীচিকা, Mirage 2022-2023, Photographs. Fazla Rabbi Fatiq, মরীচিকা, Mirage 2022-2023, Photographs. Fazla Rabbi Fatiq, মরীচিকা, Mirage 2022-2023, Photographs. Fazla Rabbi Fatiq, মরীচিকা, Mirage 2022-2023, Photographs. Fazla Rabbi Fatiq, মরীচিকা, Mirage 2022-2023, Photographs. Fazla Rabbi Fatiq, মরীচিকা, Mirage 2022-2023, Photographs. Fazla Rabbi Fatiq, মরীচিকা, Mirage 2022-2023, Photographs. Fazla Rabbi Fatiq, মরীচিকা, Mirage 2022-2023, Photographs. Fazla Rabbi Fatiq, মরীচিকা, Mirage 2022-2023, Photographs. Fazla Rabbi Fatiq, মরীচিকা, Mirage 2022-2023, Photographs. Fazla Rabbi Fatiq, মরীচিকা, Mirage 2022-2023, Photographs. Fazla Rabbi Fatiq, মরীচিকা, Mirage 2022-2023, Photographs. Fazla Rabbi Fatiq, মরীচিকা, Mirage 2022-2023, Photographs. Fazla Rabbi Fatiq, মরীচিকা, Mirage 2022-2023, Photographs. Fazla Rabbi Fatiq, মরীচিকা, Mirage 2022-2023, Photographs. Fazla Rabbi Fatiq, মরীচিকা, Mirage 2022-2023, Photographs. Fazla Rabbi Fatiq, মরীচিকা, Mirage 2022-2023, Photographs. Fazla Rabbi Fatiq, মরীচিকা, Mirage 2022-2023, Photographs. Fazla Rabbi Fatiq, মরীচিকা, Mirage 2022-2023, Photographs. Fazla Rabbi Fatiq, মরীচিকা, Mirage 2022-2023, Photographs. Fazla Rabbi Fatiq, মরীচিকা, Mirage 2022-2023, Photographs. Fazla Rabbi Fatiq, মরীচিকা, Mirage 2022-2023, Photographs. MD Fazla Rabbi Fatiq b. 1995 Cumilla; lives and works in Cumilla WINNER Mirage is a series of photographs that attempts to highlight the corruption that lies behind many construction projects in Bangladesh. Focusing on numerous bridges that started to be built in canals, open fields, and agricultural lands over the past two decades - but that now lie abandoned and unused – Fatiq draws attention to the ongoing impact and the sheer scale of this predicament. In several instances, his works depict bridges that have collapsed, with their approach roads in ruins if they were ever made at all. These monumental, almost surreal forms now dominate landscapes across the country, symbolising for Fatiq the systemic corruption in the construction industry where huge budgets are misused and projects left unfinished. Although this series of photographs is devoid of people, it nonetheless conveys lost hopes of connectivity between places and communities, particularly in rural areas where local populations have no option but to move around by water for much of the year. While his works can be hauntingly beautiful, Fatiq’s approach to his subject matter is shaped by an acute social and political sensibility. In Mirage, he deftly combines aspects of traditional photography with elements of abstraction, symbolism and ambiguity, giving rise to the question of what lies underneath the surface of an image. Samdani Art Award 2023 The Samdani Art Foundation announced Bangladeshi artists Purnima Aktar and Md Fazla Rabbi Fatiq as joint winners of the biannual Samdani Art Award. It is the first time two finalists have been awarded the prize which aims to support, promote and highlight the country’s emerging contemporary artists. Purnima Aktar and Md Fazla Rabbi Fatiq were selected from a shortlist of 12 artists whose work was part of an exhibition curated by Anne Barlow (Director at Tate St Ives) at DAS 2023. The members of the international jury included Ibrahim Mahama, artist; Tarun Nagesh, Curator of Asian Art at the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA) in Brisbane, Australia; Roobina Karode, Chief Curator, Kiran Nadar Museum of Art; and Simon Castets, Former Samdani Art Award Curator and Director of Strategic Initiatives, LUMA Arles. Md Fazla Rabbi Fatiq is the recipient of the residency at the Delfina Foundation and Purnima Aktar is the recipient of the residency in Ghana, hosted by Ibrahim Mahama’s Savannah Centre for Contemporary Art and Red Clay. Purnima Aktar,আঠারো ভাটির দেশ, A Tale of Eighteen Tides, 2022-2023. Installation. Purnima Aktar,আঠারো ভাটির দেশ, A Tale of Eighteen Tides, 2022-2023. Installation. Purnima Aktar,আঠারো ভাটির দেশ, A Tale of Eighteen Tides, 2022-2023. Installation. Purnima Aktar,আঠারো ভাটির দেশ, A Tale of Eighteen Tides, 2022-2023. Installation. Purnima Aktar,আঠারো ভাটির দেশ, A Tale of Eighteen Tides, 2022-2023. Installation. Purnima Aktar,আঠারো ভাটির দেশ, A Tale of Eighteen Tides, 2022-2023. Installation. Purnima Aktar,আঠারো ভাটির দেশ, A Tale of Eighteen Tides, 2022-2023. Installation. Purnima Aktar,আঠারো ভাটির দেশ, A Tale of Eighteen Tides, 2022-2023. Installation. Purnima Aktar,আঠারো ভাটির দেশ, A Tale of Eighteen Tides, 2022-2023. Installation. Purnima Aktar,আঠারো ভাটির দেশ, A Tale of Eighteen Tides, 2022-2023. Installation. Purnima Aktar,আঠারো ভাটির দেশ, A Tale of Eighteen Tides, 2022-2023. Installation. Purnima Aktar,আঠারো ভাটির দেশ, A Tale of Eighteen Tides, 2022-2023. Installation. Purnima Aktar,আঠারো ভাটির দেশ, A Tale of Eighteen Tides, 2022-2023. Installation. Purnima Aktar,আঠারো ভাটির দেশ, A Tale of Eighteen Tides, 2022-2023. Installation. Purnima Aktar,আঠারো ভাটির দেশ, A Tale of Eighteen Tides, 2022-2023. Installation. Purnima Aktar,আঠারো ভাটির দেশ, A Tale of Eighteen Tides, 2022-2023. Installation. Purnima Aktar,আঠারো ভাটির দেশ, A Tale of Eighteen Tides, 2022-2023. Installation. Purnima Aktar,আঠারো ভাটির দেশ, A Tale of Eighteen Tides, 2022-2023. Installation. Purnima Aktar,আঠারো ভাটির দেশ, A Tale of Eighteen Tides, 2022-2023. Installation. Purnima Aktar,আঠারো ভাটির দেশ, A Tale of Eighteen Tides, 2022-2023. Installation. Purnima Aktar,আঠারো ভাটির দেশ, A Tale of Eighteen Tides, 2022-2023. Installation. Purnima Aktar,আঠারো ভাটির দেশ, A Tale of Eighteen Tides, 2022-2023. Installation. Purnima Aktar,আঠারো ভাটির দেশ, A Tale of Eighteen Tides, 2022-2023. Installation. Purnima Aktar,আঠারো ভাটির দেশ, A Tale of Eighteen Tides, 2022-2023. Installation. Purnima Aktar,আঠারো ভাটির দেশ, A Tale of Eighteen Tides, 2022-2023. Installation. Purnima Aktar,আঠারো ভাটির দেশ, A Tale of Eighteen Tides, 2022-2023. Installation. Purnima Aktar,আঠারো ভাটির দেশ, A Tale of Eighteen Tides, 2022-2023. Installation. Purnima Aktar,আঠারো ভাটির দেশ, A Tale of Eighteen Tides, 2022-2023. Installation. Purnima Aktar,আঠারো ভাটির দেশ, A Tale of Eighteen Tides, 2022-2023. Installation. Purnima Aktar,আঠারো ভাটির দেশ, A Tale of Eighteen Tides, 2022-2023. Installation. Purnima Aktar b. 1997, Narayanganj; lives and works in Dhaka. WINNER The Sundarbans mangrove forest, known as the ‘land of eighteen tides’, is host to a vast range of flora and fauna, including the Bengal tiger. According to local folklore, the Sundarbans is watched over by Bonbibi, a revered female deity. It is said that for hundreds of years, woodcutters, honey collectors and others whose livelihoods depend on the forest, have prayed to Bonbibi to protect them from harm. Despite being a UNESCO World Heritage site, the fragile ecosystem of the Sundarbans is increasingly under threat due to climate change and environmental pollution. A Tale of Eighteen Tides is an allegorical work that explores this loss of biodiversity in the forest alongside the cultures and traditions that are in danger of dying out with it. Comprising eighteen parts, the installation depicts the figure of Bonbibi alongside a Bengal tiger and other wild animals, with those species that are already extinct painted in monochrome. Aktar’s work is inspired by nature and the myths and symbols of the Bengal Delta, as well as by artistic source including Mughal miniatures, Tantric paintings and Bangla folk art. She often combines these in her work to address issues around social and environmental justice. 2023 2020 2018 2016 2014 2012 Award Archive

Partners The Samdani Art Foundation is proud to have partnered with the following organisations and institutions on its various initiatives.

Partners The Samdani Art Foundation is proud to have partnered with the following organisations and institutions on its various initiatives.