Mohibul Islam: An expatriate artist with a soul rooted in home

Freedom Fighter (left), an artwork by Mohammad Mohibul Islam; the artist showing his paintings to a visitor (right)

It is natural for an artist to have an affinity to his country and its history. Mohammad Mohibul Islam, an artist now living in Canada, is no exception. Though he is far from home, he is firmly rooted to Bangladesh.
Islam's forte is historical movements, ranging from Tebhagha to Liberation War. Alongside he has expressed his thoughts through his paintings in his over two decade-long career.
Mohibul Islam, son of late Nurul Islam and late Kohinoor Begum, was born in Mymensingh town in 1967. He studied at the local Mrityunjay School and passed his SSC in 1984. He obtained his pre-degree (BFA) from Institute of Fine Arts (IFA), University of Dhaka in 1987 and did his BFA degree in printmaking from the same institution in 1990. He went on to obtain his MFA degree in printmaking from Visva-Bharati University in India in 1995 under a government scholarship. In 2002, he moved to Canada.
Now founder and director of Nandonik Fine Arts Institute in Dhaka, Islam works in different mediums, including pencil sketch, painting, acrylic and printmaking.
The artist has participated in several workshops to hone his artistic skills. He participated in a cartoon workshop in 1991 and a workshop on book designing and illustration in 1992 -- both organised by the National Book Centre, Dhaka. He also attended workshops on printmaking organised by Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy in 1993 and a workshop on puppetry in 1998.
Islam had his first solo exhibition in Mymensingh in 1984 when he was a student. Later he held another solo exhibition at Uppsala in Sweden in 1986. Pleased with the response, he arranged two other solo exhibitions in Sweden in 1987 and 1990. He had his fifth solo exhibition in Kolkata, West Bengal, in 1995. Bangladesh National Museum and Alliance Francaise De Dacca also organised his solo exhibitions in 1996 in 2002 respectively.
The artist has so far visited India, Pakistan, Russia, Denmark and Singapore.
His talents have not gone unnoticed. He has won several national and international awards including a Japan Award in 1982; Worldwide Art Award (England) in 1984; Seoul Art Award in 1983; Shahtab Award (Mymensingh) in 1977; Indian Young Artist Poster Contest Award in 1995; Presidential Scholarship Award, Georgia, USA in 1997 and Japanese Municipal Government Award in 2000.
Islam's paintings have been collected by many prestigious offices and organisations like The White House in Washington, Writer's Building in Kolkata, Law and Foreign Affairs Ministries in Dhaka, Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Dhaka, Bangladesh National Museum, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Bangladesh Shishu Academy, Alliance Francaise De Dacca and more.
Talking to this correspondent, Islam asserted that that many of his paintings have been bought by amateur collectors of Bangladesh, England, Japan, Sweden, Korea, Denmark, Finland, Pakistan, India, Germany, Canada, USA, Russia, Norway, Netherlands and Thailand.
A visiting artist in America and in Singapore in 1997 and 2001, Islam continues to be inspired by the Bangladeshi landscape.
Islam, also the founder Craft Centre in Toronto, becomes nostalgic as he remembers his teachers and guides in Bangladesh and West Bengal: Qayyum Chowdhury, Mohammed Kibria, Safiuddin Ahmed, Mostafa Monwar, Hamiduzzaman Khan, Abul Barq Alvi, Rafiqunnabi, Sanat Kar, Lalu Shah, Dharma Narayan Das Gupta and Nirmalendu Das. He also reminisces the days gone by when his mother was his primary painting teacher. "My mother inspired me to draw pictures and I wish to set up a Public Arts Institution in Mymensingh in her memory. As a staff of Mymensingh Medical College Hospital, my mother rendered services to the wounded freedom fighters in 1971 but never sought recognition," Mohibul added.