Artist Rokeya Sultana’s solo exhibition in India gets postponed

Award-winning printmaker and painter Rokeya Sultana's solo art exhibition in India has been indefinitely postponed over "safety and security" reasons in light of the recent communal violence in Bangladesh.

Rokeya Sultana's exhibition has been cancelled for the time being over concerns that her work could be vandalised, reports The Print citing officials.

The exhibition was an initiative of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) — an autonomous body under the Indian Ministry of External Affairs — was scheduled to take place in Delhi and Kolkata, between 23 October and 11 December. It had been planned as a joint collaboration between the ICCR and the Bengal Foundation, a Dhaka-based non-profit organisation.

It was meant to showcase Sultana's body of work from the past 40 years.

Official sources said the exhibition had to be called off as "tempers were high". Therefore a decision was taken to "organise the exhibition at a later date" once the issue got settled, the said.

Sultana had been informed in advance that her works will not be showcased in India owing to the incidents that took place in Bangladesh earlier, the sources added.

The artist, who was in Delhi till Tuesday, left for Dhaka Wednesday.

According to sources, the postponement was important for the "safety and security" of the artist and her work.

Whenever the exhibition is scheduled next, it will first be held in Kolkata and then in Delhi, the sources added. The original plan had been to have it first in Delhi, at the city's esteemed Lalit Kala Akademi, and then in Kolkata.