A cornucopia of artistic expressions

International Art Biennale Cox's Bazar 2015 ended on a high note with a number of artists and art lovers gathering every day at the four-day (September 10-13) art extravaganza held at Cox's Bazar Institute and Public Library.  The biennale, a non-profit art platform, had 54 participating artists of three countries – Korea, India and Bangladesh. It gave the artists, curator and art organisers new enthusiasm, who are planning to hold the next biennale and on a larger scale.

Amirul Rajiv, curator of IABC 2015 said artists from many other countries were interested to participate, but couldn't because of the short notice at which it was held. They will be accommodated in the next edition of the event, he hoped.

Connecting people, especially with the young ones with a variety of expressions -- visual, performance, sculpture, painting, print, photography and installation, the international biennale was an encouraging example set by a number of promising artists, curator and organizers.

Paintings by Bipasha Hayat spoke of her childhood and adulthood experience of ancient architectures, sculptures and their broken parts or forms. Watercolours by four artists -- Dr. Malay Bala, Gopal Saha, Amit Nandi and Zahangir Alom of Oriental Painting Study Group were on display at the biennale. Delicate etching prints by Ashit Mitra expressed the hidden spirit of life and nature. Magically surrealistic drawings by Sharafat Hossain Pasha zoom in on time and reality.

Shimul Saha's experimental new media art work titled “We All are the Dust of the Air”, showed the symbolic social discriminatory state of male and female. Harun-ar-Rashid's photographs evoked an untainted saga of soil that beautifully depicts golden section in his compositions.

Photo Courtesy: Orchid Changma

Ashim Halder Sagor's performance titled “Existence of Identity” searched a way out to raise a voice on justice for the humanities.

Sculptures by Apu Dhar, Abinash Chakma, Jahar Sinha, Kiamoul Haque Sam and Samanta Shermin and installations by Jublee Dewan, Suchayan Paul and Jionto Raju were also on display.

Photo montage by Razib Datta and photographs by Mumit Mahbub, Sayeed Sumon Kaisar Ahamed were thematic and praiseworthy.  Pavel Partha and Syed Nizar Alam participated in lecture delivering series on art and ecology.

“Ah Sundarban”, a project on the environmental concerns of Sundarbans, displayed a series of 10 photographs while promising Indian photographer Nirvair Singh Rai, in his numbers of images on the Rohingyas of Myanmar, showcased identity along with their racial and cultural discrimination.

Origami exhibition by Hyelyoung Lee and Sangmi Shin shed light on the international art scenario through a workshop with Cox's Bazar school children.

Jewel A Rob portrayed the pain of Jesus Christ in his performance art. Jolpori Puppet Studio's presentation and musical performances by Ahmed Hasan Sunny and Mehedi Hasan Nil attracted many. The biennale wrapped up with a display of fire spinning by Kiamoul and Team.

The Daily Star, Prothom Alo, Depart, Oriental Painting Study Group, Open Art and Dream Art Play were among others assisting in the event, co-organised by Aranya Sharma and Sabyasachi Mistry.