BRIHATTA HOME ART PROJECT 2020
The global pandemic has pushed humanity into a difficult corner, upending the normal way of life. It has affected us in multiple dimensions ranging from the economic to the psychological. However, resilience and the passion to keep moving – traits deeply embedded in us – has been the force guiding us to the light at the end of the long dark tunnel. The ‘Brihatta Home Art Project 2020′ imbues and reflects the same philosophy to support artists all over Bangladesh, during a time when they have become scattered, cut off from their studios and optimal environments.
The Brihatta Home Art Project 2020 was created by the Brihatta Art Foundation as a reaction to the pandemic and ensuing lockdown affecting artistic expression. The initiative selected fifteen emerging artists to be mentored by three seasoned practicing artists over a period of three months in the latter half of 2020. By offering “virtual residencies” to a batch of young mentees and regularly putting them in touch with recognized educators and dedicated mentors, Dhali Al Mamoon, Mahbubur Rahman and Bishwajit Goswami, the initiative created a new kind of discursive platform. The idea was to encourage artists to produce art from home, using materials that were at their disposal, taking the limitations created by the pandemic as a challenge and turning it into something more meaningful.
A VIRTUAL RESIDENCY TO INSPIRE
Facilitated through an open call for applicants from all over Bangladesh, the Home Art Project Jury made a final selection of fifteen grantees, based on their project proposals and ideas, in line with the current situation. The jury panel consisted of three stalwarts in the art community: sculptor Alak Roy, retired Professor of Institute of Fine Arts, University of Chittagong, and founder of ‘Chattogram Sculpture Center’; artist and Professor Nisar Hossain, current Dean of Faculty of Fine Art, University of Dhaka; and internationally acclaimed new-wave contemporary artist Tayeba Begum Lipi, Co-Founder and Trustee of Britto Arts Trust.
Brihatta Art Foundation launched a curated exhibition of the work created during the virtual residency titled ‘Brihatta Home Art Project 2020′. The exhibition, featuring fourteen artists from the mentorship programme, is being held at the Quamrul Hassan Exhibition Hall in Bengal Shilpalay, Dhaka from 13 March to 12 June, 2021 (closed during the ongoing lockdown). Arranged in association with Bengal Foundation, the exhibition has been curated by Tanzim Wahab, Chief Curator, Arts Programme, Bengal Foundation. Regarding the project, he remarked, “the artists bring us to these essential inquiries: questioning the social and the cultural systems with a formative language and artistic liberation, reminding us about the ecology and its connection to the human individual.”
This exhibition was inaugurated by Dr. Dipu Moni, honourable Minister for Education. Veteran artist Rafiqun Nabi was in attendance along with Abdullah Al Mahmud, Chairman, Crystal Insurance Ltd as special guests. Other notable guests including Abul Khair, Chairman of Bengal Foundation, were also present at the Quamrul Hassan Exhibition Hall at Bengal Shilpalay. The event was hosted by Luva Nahid Choudhury, Director General of Bengal Foundation.
The Home Art Project had several offshoots focusing on different aspects of the project, particularly, ‘impART: The Story Continues from Us to You’ featuring the grantees talking about their artistic careers and the virtual mentorship, and “Art | Practice | Research” in collaboration with EMK Center aimed to engage the wider art community to create a meaningful platform to build and maintain strong relationships. These virtual sessions attracted a large crowd engaging them in discussion sessions with artists, professors, critics, collectors, and young artists in Bangladesh and around the world.
ART AS A METHOD OF INTROSPECTION FOR ARTISTS AND THE COMMUNITY
In a year spent in lockdown, where the world stopped and progress was stymied, where the arts and culture were stunted, Brihatta’s art mentorship program achieved a lot. Artists were able to meditate and reflect on their own thoughts and limitations and work at personal challenges through their art-making. The notion was to reflect the current time and situation, with all of its struggles and defeats but also exhibit its hope, positivity and acts of humanity. In the words of Bishwajit Goswami, Artist, Educator, and Founder of Brihatta, “the pandemic forced us to reevaluate and rethink our values and morals regarding life, lifestyles and the essence of being human.”
Instead of being a period of stagnation and mental fossilisation, it was a period of growth for both mentees and mentors alike. It further engaged the wider art community by creating an open platform for discussion and debate, allowing creative introspection, enabling artists and the art community alike to continue the human connection that the pandemic had taken away from them.
CAN ART BE THE LIGHT IN THIS DIFFICULT TIME?
The difficulty of taking possession of our current reality is enormous and any free movement or intimate gesture is not easy during the time of physical distancing. The trauma brought on by the pandemic has dealt quite a psychological blow on artists and the art community in general. But through their art, artists bring us face-to-face with some essential inquiries during these critical times: questioning the social and the cultural systems with a formative language and artistic liberation, reminding us about the ecology and its connection to the human individual and human society. They encourage us to look at art and art-making in a new light and through a new lens.
The art created during the Brihatta Home Art Project is often fragile or ephemeral. But they bear witness to the changes in art-making and the experiences that shape artistic creation, and its preservation is where art collectors like Charles Saatchi play a prominent role. This is a positive development for the challenges faced in these distressing times can herald the beginning of new artistic journeys. Through constantly engaging with art, and through it with each other, it is possible to rebuild the blocks of life as a collective force, weaving the broader tapestry of life with incredible layers of human experiences that will redefine our existence and reshape our reality.
“Our collective trauma called for action, impelling the need to work together and rebuild the connections severed by the pandemic”, said Bishwajit Goswami, Project Director of ‘Brihatta Home Art Project 2020′. “Brihatta’s Home Art Project was a response to this impusion, conceptualized with an intention to shine a light over the newer generation of our artist community.”
ABOUT BRIHATTA
Brihatta Art Foundation is a research-based artist-run platform with a strong focus on community development and collaboration. It possesses a collective spirit that centers on encouragement participants to examine their artistic practices from diverse spaces. Artistic freedom is nurtured in this space, as one gains clarity of self by engaging in creative dialogue and mentorship.
Brihatta increases the value and vitality of communities by improving cultural access to, and the visibility of art. Focused on the creation, and curation of art within the public realm, Brihatta is a dynamic liaison between artists, craftsmen, local and expat community members, and global practitioners to place artwork within a space that achieves shared goals.
