UNB, Dhaka :
Echoing solidarity with the global Black Lives Matter movement against racial injustices, much-anticipated art exhibition “The Black Story,” was launched virtually by Gallery osmos on Thursday.
Curated by Nahar Khan, Executive Director of Gallery Cosmos, the special exhibition is shedding the spotlight on the recent wave of protests against racial injustices perpetrated against the Black community in America, which inspired people of all colours across continents to proclaim “Black Lives Matter”, in solidarity with the movement.
Featuring a powerful combination of artistic expression from five prominent Bangladeshi visual artists: Alakesh Ghosh, Kanak Chanpa Chakma, Afrozaa Jamil Konka, Bishwajit Goswami and Sourav Chowdhury, and a series of intellectual interventions with global art-enthusiasts and specialists – the exhibition is aiming to explore the intolerable injustices and generational trauma experienced by black communities.
This interactive exhibition delves into the interactions between the historic Black and South Asian communities, harmonizing the motif to examine, expose, and embrace the historical and ancestral ties of people in this region, the organizers emphasized at the inauguration of this month-long exhibition.
Nahar Khan, Executive Director of Gallery Cosmos, inaugurated the special event at 9 pm on Thursday at Gallery Cosmos and UNB’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/GalleryCosmos and https://www.facebook.com/unbnewsroom.
Hosted by Nabila Rahman, the inauguration was also joined by eminent Bangladeshi social activist, feminist, and environmentalist Khushi Kabir, and Nigerian American visual artist Osi Audu.
Nahar Khan, in her capacity as curator, mentioned that the exhibition has been profoundly transformative for her on a personal and professional level.
Shedding light on the history, Nahar Khan said, “The two communities (Black and South Asian) in the West share a longstanding history of being allies and enjoyed a sense of camaraderie born out of their shared struggles to build solidarity. These connections are best embodied by the ‘mixed’ lives of Black Bengalis. Vivek Bald’s ‘Bengali Harlem and the Lost Histories of South Asian America’, reveals how multiple waves of Bengali Muslim migrants became part of iconic American cities like New York, New Orleans, and Detroit.”
Nahar Khan pointed out how their men were known for inter-marrying with African American, Creole, and Puerto Rican women, building new lives in the American working-class communities of colour between the 1880s and early 1900s.”
“The ties between Black and South Asian communities are not just limited to the diaspora that exists in the West,” she continued. “Black-South Asia is an important and mostly unexplored segment of the Global African Diaspora which is present across the region: such as the African descended communities of Gujrat and Karnataka’s Sidis, Hyderabad’s Chaush, Pakistan’s Seedis, and Sri Lanka’s Kaffirs.”
“The body of work presented here is a collective commentary on the experience of systemic oppression, racism, and discrimination faced by the Black community; and examines how our own communities have institutionalized anti-black sentiments. Through this month-long virtual exhibition, we hope to engage Bangladeshi and global audiences on a journey to discover how our communities are intertwined.
The Black Story comprises works encompassing painting, video, sound, poetry, film, and photography. Concurrently, a series of webinars and interviews will be held to create meaningful dialogue around issues of race, identity, and power (or lack thereof). Through multi-disciplinary art and intellectual discourse, The Black Story will explore our past, examine our present, and imagine our future in the context of institutionalized racism experienced by minority communities,” Nahar Khan added, explaining the event details.
