DBF’s Homelands Art from Bangladesh, India and Pakistan in UK

Durjoy Bangladesh Foundation (DBF) inaugurated their latest exhibition, Homelands: Art from Bangladesh, India and Pakistan, at Kettle’s Yard, University of Cambridge, UK, on November 12. The foundation was founded in 2018 by Durjoy Rahman to promote art and artists from South Asia, internationally. It supports artists in creating new artworks and engages art practitioners in relevant exhibitions, publications and residencies. Having offices in Berlin and in Dhaka, DBF offers a channel to connect art and artists between Asia, Europe and beyond.

Artworks and performances by Munem Wasif, Yasmin Jahan Nupur, Iftikhar Dadi, Elizabeth Dadi, Seher Shah, Bani Abidi, Desmond Lazaro, Sohrab Hura, Nikhil Chopra, Shilpa Gupta and Zarina are featured at the event, which will go on till February 2, 2020. The exhibition is curated by Devika Singh, who is also a writer and one of the leading scholars in South Asian art.

The exhibition tells stories of migration and resettlement, as well as violent division and unexpected connections within the subcontinent. The artists have incorporated essences of political and environmental histories, often contesting borders, finding common pasts and imagining new futures in their works.

Kettle’s Yard is internationally renowned as a unique document of modernism in Britain. It is also a major centre for twentieth century and contemporary art in Cambridge. Artists like Henri Gaudier-Brzeska, Barbara Hepworth, Joan Miro, Constantin Brancusi, David Jones, Naum Gabo, Henry Moore and both Ben and Winifred Nicholson, have showcased their works at the venue.

“DBF is committed to promoting the engagement and accessibility of South Asian artists around the world. I am delighted that DBF is a part of the exhibition,” said Durjoy Rahman. “Through this collaboration, we mark an important moment that strengthens the bridges of cultural and creative exchange between the United Kingdom and South Asia.”

Durjoy also added how the artists have responded to the continuing resonances, legacies and contested histories of the partition in 1947, the independence of Bangladesh in 1971, and the contemporary experiences of migration and diaspora across South Asia. 

Alongside the exhibition, the foundation will present the symposium, ‘Homelands: Art, Conflict and Displacement in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan,’ which will consider recent conflicts, and the violence and migration in and across South Asia. The session will be organised in collaboration with the Centre of South Asian Studies and the Department of History of Art, University of Cambridge.