The Voices in Brushstrokes

Dilara Begum Jolly

Photo: Kazi Tahsin Agaz Apurbo

Known for highlighting social and gender issues in her work, Dilara Begum Jolly is an artist worthy of everyone's note and appreciation. Painting for over 2 decades, Jolly has unearthed some dire and important issues in her works, for which she uses many different media of art, despite studying on painting and printmaking. Today, Jolly speaks out for the women and children of war in her solo exhibition 'Amorar Akkhyan', in The Daily Star-Bengal Arts Precinct at The Daily Star centre in Dhaka.

Her life, as an artist, was full of epiphanies and realisations that brought her to where she is now. "Even loving art was a realisation for me. I hadn't ever thought of becoming an artist when I was younger. But quite suddenly and unexpectedly, I enrolled myself into the Painting and Print Making department at Government Arts College, Chittagong, in 1981." While there, Jolly found love for this new method of communication. "I realised how this is such a beautiful medium to voice my thoughts out through," she says. After having found her passion, she went on to completing her Master's in Fine Arts at the Institute of Fine Arts, University of Dhaka, in 1984, after which she gained a Post Diploma in Print Making in Shantiniketan, Kolkata, with a scholarship from the Indian Government.

After coming back to Bangladesh from Kolkata, Jolly began painting again due to the lack of equipment for print making at the time. "That is also when I started experimenting with different media of art like drawing, papier mache, toys, etc."

In 2010, Jolly discovered a stronger passion for art inside her. "I did a workshop on performance art with a Japanese artist. I'm generally a very shy person, so I never thought of getting into performance art. But when I was learning it and physically doing it, I learned a whole new, and equally beautiful, way of telling stories through the movements of my body and the expressions of my face." Jolly then began working with performance art videos, instead of performing live.

In 2011, Jolly and her husband, renowned artist Dhali Al Mamoon, were present during the tragic accident that took the life of internationally acclaimed filmmaker, Tareque Masud. "This accident left us quite traumatised. My only solace was my art. I spent days and nights, sitting in front of the canvas-- painting, and painting, and painting."

2013 was when Jolly created 'Tazreen Nama', highlighting the tragic fire that took many lives, after which she made 'Boyon Boyan', which was on both Tazreen Fashions and the Rana Plaza tragedy. She also held a solo exhibition in 2014 called 'Threads of Testimony', which gave special attention to the condition of women in the garments industry. The exhibition further explored major themes that recurred through the artist's entire body of work: the particularities of the feminine condition, it's confrontation with dominant orders; it's tension with motherhood and so on. 

This year, Jolly's exhibition in The Daily Star-Bengal Arts Precinct highlights many elements of war. Using different media, Jolly successfully portrayed the many forms of injustice the people of our country had faced. "Recently, I visited Dalim Bhaban in Chittagong, which was a torture cell in 1971. Now, residents live there and I had a chance to speak to them. They told me stories of lurking spirits, faint screams, the heavy and ugly dampness of torture still hanging in the air," says Jolly. Using photographs of the tiniest details of the torture cell, she punctured holes with sewing needles in the photos to not only add an amazing effect, but also ingrain the plight of the garments workers in the photos depicting torture. "Another installation of mine here is portrays the trauma of the two lakh women who were brutally raped during the Liberation War." A strong feminist through and through, Dilara has used the metaphor of the uterus to express her concept. "I tried to portray the agony of an abused woman, her fear of rejection by the society as she was no longer 'pure', and the unwanted yet unavoidable pregnancy causing the birth of children of war. While we got our land, our country, after the war, these children did not get anything. No country, no recognition. Yet, their mothers are our people, and they still yearn for their children. Their hearts are still weeping." Dilara said uteruses of women around the world were injured through rape in war. "Amorar Akkhyan is a tribute to all those women in war, from all over the world, who survived this brutality with their outstanding bravery. This is my stand against crimes against humanities, and the atrocities of war." The exhibition, which comprises sculptures, installations, and performance art, had been opened for public viewing on December 12, 2015 and will last till January 9, 2016.

Overwhelmed by the increase in the number of young artists, Jolly says, "Art is something that stays with us forever, it is a lifestyle. I believe if we senior artists do our work with honesty, trust and passion, it will be enough to inspire a whole generation of artists."