A Colourful Protest Against Injustice

Iridescent, mixed media on canvas, 46x61cm, 2014.

One of the most delightful pieces in KM Mithu's present collection of paintings at Athena Gallery, South Badda is 'Memory' - an old burnt kettle, two blackish cups and a tea leaf container which is also black. These are kept on a wooden makeshift table. They represent the street tea shop, a major attraction for him since he was a teenager. When going on a film shoot, Mithu, even today, longs for a sip from such a street tea -shop. Ninety percent of this creation is made of sand.
The 'adda' on the coffee and tea table has been heightened in his other eight works. This place could be a restaurant, a friend's house or an art gallery. There are many tea cups and faces, and the painter wishes to stress the fact that the faces are taken from art magazines. There are many sounds that linger on with the cups. The last person in the 'adda' is the artist himself—pondering over what had been said by the others.
With colour, a lot of sand is mixed in his paints, the sand which he air-lifted from the Maldives. To this he has combined needles and buttons. He has mixed feathers and newspaper with his colours.
Mithu has depicted the mindless violence before the last election. Images of people including children being burnt by petrol bombs still haunt the artist and he has chosen to  blow up the stories in the newspapers and paint the monstrous images. One of the faces is burnt, while the body of the sufferer is made up of news features.
There are 105 artworks done in acrylics. The spade for filling up sand and dirt, pearls and shells have all been included in the paintings. On the 18th of April this media was begun, along with film. The shooting of the film 'Jonakir Alo'  began at the same time he started the paintings in acrylic work . The film is full of interludes and subplots and flashbacks. The film ends on how the woman handles his existentialism. Mithu, at the same time, also tried to display the discontentment of the garment workers, which has a great impact on the lives of Bangladeshis.    

Scripture of Life, mixed media on canvas, 91x91cm, 2014.

What has he done in the last year and a half? He went to the St. Martins Island and the Hill Tracts, because of which there are many elements from nature in his present works. The violin and 'dotara' are depicted as thrown on the sea beach. A dress is kept there, along with a bobbin, buttons, tape and needles to depict the needs of the garment worker. Among the writings can be found 'Proshantir Shur' , which stands for tranquillity ; and mixed media has been used here. The violin has much relief work on the black and white chords. 'Music of Joy' is 6ft by 4 ft. The saxophone too touches various people, among the art lovers.
The notes of the keyboard are there. There is a butterfly and musical notations are done in relief. The black reeds are basically of the imported sand, as mentioned earlier. If one stands before the painting, one has the urge to play, so realistic is the representation. Thus, in realism, there is abstraction of the artist's own type. The effort is to make the painting contemporary. The music series gives one the impression that the artist has, somehow, lost himself among the musical instruments.

Rising Sun, print on paper, 28x24cm, 2014.

Bangladesh’s independence was is entrained  with its language movement, the artist insists. That is why the Bangla alphabets are high reliefed and pasted on. The words like 'ananda', 'nadi' 'nauka' 'dukho' and 'bhalo-basha', kobita' 'chnando' , 'rong' and 'shotta' are integral parts of our lives, Mithu says. We love alphabets and poetry, he insists. In places the language is toned down, and getting dirty. The language is suffering. Whatever we can, we burn, without waiting or thinking, for political benefit—we never wanted a Bangladesh such as this – and this is when he painted this series—which is meant to be a long lament, the artist says. At times, in some of the paintings, the alphabets appear to merge and mix. Even the greenery has not the smooth effect of the lush paddy field of Jibanananda Das and SM Sultan, of before. Piles of burnt paper has been pasted, to the top and the bottom, to heighten the effect of the repeated burning, with no cause in sight, says Mithu. There is fire all over the country—here the haat bazaars burn and next the homes and sacred places of the minorities are set to mindless burning, the artist drives home the point.
Thus Mithu, a painter, film-maker and photographer combines his skill repeatedly to present the injustice and suffering that he has witnessed. His works are often a protest against political instability-highlighting the use of violence and the greed for money.

Biography, mixed media on canvas, 180x91cm, 2014.