Most Read

Celebration of creativity

17 December 2005, 18:00 PM
LIFESTYLE
By Cultural Correspondent
17 December 2005, 18:00 PM
Sahid Kazi: Social perspective
Tuesday evening, citizens of Dhaka were returning home after a long busy day. Rush hour traffic was seen blocking the major intersection of the city. Just like every other week day, exhaustion took over the minds and bodies of Dhakaites. Despite the hectic metropolitan schedule, the art lovers dug out some time that evening and attended the 10th annual Berger young painters' art competition at the Hotel Sonargaon Ballroom on December 13.

In this celebration of creativity, the young artists were awarded six prizes for their paintings. First the jury members were awarded for their participation. The jury members included Professor Qayyum Chowdhury, Professor Hashem Khan, Rafiqun Nabi, Professor Abdus Shakoor Shah, Professor Abdus Sattar of the Institute of Fine Arts DU, Mahmudul Haque, DG Dhaka National Museum, and Dr Farida Zaman, Director, Institute of Fine Arts, DU. This award has acquired enormous prestige as it includes a jury board revered by the cultural communities of Bangladesh.

The talented young winners at the competition captured the many facets of Dhaka. Rickshaw is a major part of our lives in Dhaka, and not many artists can present the beauty of its art and structure as did first prize winner Md. Zohurul Islam in his painting Tradition. He painted a picture of our daily life that reveals the parallels between our lives and the rickshaws -- simple, nature loving and artsy.

Google News LinkFor all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.

The second prize went to a painter from old Dhaka, Hanifur Rahman Faisal for his brilliant work, Conversation, which displays crows lined up on cables and seemingly engaged in conversations with other crows. About the painting, Hanifur said that "It seems that these birds, who are very old citizens of Dhaka, also share views, ideas, joys and sorrows as we do." The third prize winner, Sahid Kazi said "In totality our society is still male-centric." In his paintings he symbolically represented how the total innocence of our society is exploited every day.

The award giving function came to a close with a dynamic performance by acclaimed singer Runa Laila. The auditory senses of the audience were filled by the sweet and enchanting voice of Runa as she sang popular songs like Pan khaiya thot lal korilam, Maskalandar and Bondhu teen deen.

The works of these young talented artists can be viewed at the Zainul Gallery, Institute of Fine Arts, from today. The exhibition will be open to all from 11:00am to 7:30pm.