A three-month painting exhibition exploring issues related to women and nature opened on Saturday at a restaurant-cum-gallery at Dhanmondi.
The event, titled “Jago Nari Jago Bonhi Shikha”, was organised by Studio 48 at Eric’s Bistro restaurant, featuring 22 paintings by 22 artists.
The artists used a wide array of mediums such as acrylic, etching, monoprinting and mixed media to depict symbolic scenes of man-made natural disaster, social inequality, women sexuality and gender discrimination.
“This exhibition is a call to all conscious and educated people to come forward and stand against all forms of social anomaly,” said Fahmida Enam Kakoli, founder of the platform of visual artists and one of the participating artists at the exhibition.
About her work titled ‘Reminiscence,’ she explains how women are being objectified in a carefully-orchestrated social setup which inspires women to look good, thereby becoming unwitting victims of sexual advances.
“Products meant to beautify fascinate women and this is one of their major weaknesses. This artificial process of beautification, in a way, provokes them to give in to their desires,” she added.
Most of the exhibits also centred on women’s issues. Some of the paintings are “Dark Image,” “Obscure Sorrow,” “Woman Beauty,” and “Nari” which dealt with the challenges and sufferings faced by women in their everyday life.
The theme of man-made environmental disaster was explored in Md Harun-ar-Rashid’s painting titled “Trail of Destruction.” The painting is a mishmash of scenes of destruction and things that cause them, including a sinking ship, petrol and brick kiln. It also portrays victims of such environmentally harmful things.
Alauddin Ahmed’s painting “Seedoard”, is a dark image of several ships at sea depicting a terrible facet of nature.
Studio 48 started its journey in 2010. It has organized several art exhibitions in Dhaka and in this exhibition, 9 artists from Studio 48 and 13 guest artists are participating.
The art exhibition was inaugurated by eminent artist Hamiduzzaman Khan on Saturday and it will run until August 23, open for all, every day from 10:00am to 9:00pm.