Monon Muntaka's first solo exhibition starting Friday

The Kalakendra Foundation will inaugurate a visual art exhibition "Texture & Mixture" on Friday (28 July) featuring 67 pieces of artwork – photographs, video and audio – produced by artist Monon Muntaka.

The exhibition, curated by ASM Rezaur Rahman, will take place from  28 July – 5 August, 4:00 pm– 8:00 pm at the Kalakendra, 9/4, Block-D, Lalmatia, Dhaka 1207, Bangladesh.

Anu Muhammad, economist and writer, and political activist Khushi Kabir, Activist, feminist, and environmentalist will attend the event, among others.

According to the media release, the "Texture & Mixture" concept was born in 2021 when the artist visited Dinajpur for the first time with a group of artists. 

The artist said, "After meeting and interacting with the diverse local community, I started documenting the lives of Oraon, Marwari and Bihari till 2023 March with the help of Diversity Fellowship patronised by the Center for Enterprise and Society. It began as an exploration project, but as a visual artist, I wanted to portray my findings in visual format.

"Through this initiative, I got opportunities to meet people of all genders, races, ethnicities, religions, castes, and languages. They have been cohabiting for years despite linguistic, cultural, political, and even religious differences. They have become stronger over time by sharing their expertise. While exploring, I discovered a rhythm that inspired me to compose a story about their diversity and its beauty. I used the texture of their houses in my artwork to depict their fading existence. Through still and moving images and audio recordings, I attempted to document their ways of life. As I became more involved, I realised that many stories had already been lost, due to a lack of documentation," said the artist in the media release.

"There are enormous opportunities for researchers and artists to work with these communities. It is high time we do that as everything is rapidly changing. These communities, facing socio-cultural oppression and severe discrimination, are quickly losing access to their history, language, rituals, music and scriptures. I have taken this exhibition as a showcase of the stories of our neighbours who are seldom found in the limelight," reads the release.