Tufan and his art

Art is the original language, and is perhaps one of the more visceral ways of expressing emotions and ideas, after all, ancient mankind chose to paint and draw on caves much before they developed language or scripts.

It is the same instinct for expression and connection that drives the young artist Tufan Chakma, the person behind Tufan's Artbin.

"People use various means to express their emotions, some sing, some organise protests, and such. I felt as I could not sing, or I am not by nature an orator or a singer, but art and drawing have always attracted me. Although without formal training, I was always attached to art since childhood," he said.

Tufan is currently a student of Art and Drawing at Jahangirnagar University. An inhabitant of Dighinala, Khagrachari, he says he comes from a very simple family, with parents and just two brothers, and no traditional connection to art per se. His work so far features intimate aspects of life, culture and heritage of the peoples living in the Chittagong Hill Tracts.

In an older world, it would have taken herculean effort and time and a whole lot of good luck to take his art and stories to a larger audience. However, thanks to the permeability of social media, particularly Facebook in Bangladesh, and its vast access to people of all ages, Tufan thought to use the space to portray his work, and has reached so many people within such a short span of time. Initially through his personal account, but upon encouragement from his well-wishers, he opened a separate page for his art, calling in Tufan's Artbin— "artbin" being a combination of art and bin, as a place to simply put his art in.

"A lot of people are still unaware of who we are. In some places where I visited, people stared at me with curiosity or outright asked if I were a foreigner. My purpose is to bring information about the people of the hill tracts to more people. I want to tell people about the lifestyles of the people in the hills and the relationship of the culture of the hill people with nature, and harmonious coexistence.

"The taunts or stares hurt me before, as I would think why were they looking at me that way, but now as I have grown up too, I feel a different kind of sad. I feel sad for those people rather than myself, because I know their behaviour is from not-knowing, rather than anything else. "I have a lot of ideas in my head, and will continue to pursue this, especially in the digital art space," Tufan said.

Here is to wishing all the luck and success to the artist and conservationist Tufan. Head to his page https://www.facebook.com/tufansArtbin to meet the artist and check out his amazing artwork.

Photo:Tufan's Artbin