An exhibition of prints as part of the Art and Education Exchange Programme-2015, between the Department of Printmaking, University of Dhaka (DU) and Department of Graphic Art of Visva Bharati University is now on at Gallery 5 of National Art Gallery, Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy (BSA). BSA joining hands with Department of Printmaking of DU organised the exhibition titled “Moitree: The Bondage”.

Professor AAMS Arefin Siddique, Vice Chancellor of DU inaugurated the joint art show on August 26. Eminent artist Monirul Islam and Professor Nisar Hossain, Dean, Faculty of Fine Art of DU, Professor Syed Abul Barq Alvi, Professor Rokeya Sultana and Professor Ajit Seal graced the inaugural ceremony as special guests. Liaquat Ali Lucky, Director General of BSA presided over the event.

Seventy seven prominent and promising academics from Bangladesh and India are taking part at the exhibition. Kala Bhavana of Visva Bharati University played a pioneering role in the flourish of printmaking in British India while Shilpaguru Shafiuddin Ahmed, an illustrious alumnus of Shantiniketan, started the journey of the discipline in Erstwhile East Pakistan in 1948. Back in 2008, Professor Rokeya Sultana, a former student of Kala Bhavana, Visva Bharati, initiated the joint collaboration of artists from two countries. This is the third venture of its kind.   

Senior academics of both the institutions are exhibiting their arts with their personal hallmarks while junior academics are prone to experiment with new techniques, thoughts and compositions.

The printmakers' works are eloquent in individual ideas, traits, joys and sorrows. The themes contain figurative and non-figurative elements, nature, strange forms, social and political connotations, personal experiences, cityscape and more done on diverse technique like etching, acquaint, lithograph, dry point, mezzotint, wood cut and mono print.         

Among the Bangladeshi participants Mahmudul Haque and Syed Abul Barq Alvi's works are commendable for their soothing appeal. Rokeya Sultana mingles etching with lithography to create a unique exposition of her famous series Madonna on Street. Md. Anisuzzaman's wood cut print is evocative of architectural design, structural and geometric composition of cityscape. Rashid Amin delves into the search for infinity in his print while Kamruzzaman's litho showcase the vertical beauty of human figures in romantic and melancholic expressions. Joya Shahrin Huq, Sheikh Mohammad Rokonuzzaman, Asmita Alam Shammy, Md. Nazir Hossain Khan and others from Bangladesh are taking part with their notable works.

Professor Nirmalendu Das, Ajit Seal, Arpan Mukherjee, Uttam Kumar Basak, Salil Sahani, M. Thomas Singh, Aditi Ganeev Sangwan, Prashant Phirangi, Awdhesh Kumar, Madhavi Jawale and others from India are participating in the exhibition.

Professor Nirmalendu Das has experimented with expressions in his prints. One of his works denotes a surrealistic nuance while another focuses on ecology and paleography. Ajit Seal's figurative work revolves around a mystic light and darkness. One of his works represents two female visages with the Indian national bird peacock.  Illusion of rhythmic forms and figures appear in Salil Sahani's etching. Fussy floral imagery is noticeable in Aditi 
Ganeev Sangwan's print.     

The exhibition ends today (August 31).