An Artist from the Modern Days
Arafat Karim's venture into the world of art began, at an early age. Currently a Masters student at the Department of Fine Arts of Dhaka University, the promising artist has already bagged quite a few achievements, as his artworks travelled a number of exhibitions in the country.
Karim's journey with Unmad, the country's popular satire magazine, started right after he acquired the first place in an anti-corruption cartoon exhibition organised by Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB). The TIB contest was a breakthrough in Karim's artistic endeavour and since 2009, he has been attending TIB's cartoon competitions and exhibitions every year and he has proven his worth every time by securing the top position. As a young artist, he secured the 1st prize, beating contestants of 15 countries, in a drawing contest on world peace, organised by the Impact Foundation. In his early 20s, Arfat has already developed his own comic character, a secret agent called C K Zaki, which is published by Dhaka Comics.
He was recenlty chosen to attend the 100 delegates' summit in India, where again he stood out for his outstanding personea. While the Indian President, Pranab Mukherjee, was delivering his speech in the parliament house for the delegates, Arafat was doing what he is good at- making a quick sketch of the President on the scrap paper that he managed to bring along with him despite the security barrier. Not only did he make a sketch of Pranab Mukherjee, he also made sure to get it signed by the President himself. "Getting close to him was a lot of work, but I managed to send it through the security staff themselves," he recalls. "The President not only saw it, he also signed it. This is one of the most significant achievements of my career."
This young artist has always been the talk of his department because of his extraordinary academic performance. No one in recent years succeeded in achieving the record grades that he did in the subject of Drawing and Painting. In fact, he was the top scorer in the Honours final from the entire department, demonstrating his rigour and love for his passion.
Even as a child, Karim knew what he wanted to be when he grew up. Not a doctor, not an engineer but a painter. Because of his father's job, Karim spent most of his life far from the hustle and bustle of Dhaka, and experienced the real Bangladesh that he always wanted to capture on his canvas. "My parents were incredibly supportive of my passion which gave me the confidence to pursue my dream," Karim says. "In fact, my father, despite not being an artist himself, has been the greatest critic of my work. He always keeps giving feedback to my work." After completing his SSC from Chuadanga and HSC from Rajbari, when he enrolled in the Department of Fine Arts in Dhaka University, he got one step closer to fulfilling his dream.
Even though Arafat is mostly popular among comic lovers for his creation Zaki, he finds solace in drawing and sketching. He was never trained to be a cartoonist but was drawn to this field after his drawing skills developed in university. Arafat's graphic novels are a sight to behold but you'd be surprised to know that all his drawings are sketched and coloured mostly manually without the support of technology.
"As a cartoonist I don't really draw political cartoons. I focus more on comic strips, graphic novels and drawing the covers of satirical magazines. I would love to build my future plans in other mediums and I am planning to arrange my solo exhibition," says Karim.
"I have learnt a lot more from my surroundings, and from my seniors than I did by browsing the internet or reading international comics. Many senior artists of the country have influenced and inspired me in many ways, but Mehedi bhai (Mehedi Haque, the executive editor of Unmad) and Ahsan Habib Sir (the editor of Unmad) have always been my mentors and support system," says the reticent artist.
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