Moving canvas of 1971

Kanta, Dhiyan and Nisho in eye-catching T-shirts

Nitya Upahar's Bahar Rahman has taken the colour concept of our flag in his new line of T-shirts for the occasion of Victory Day. In the T-shirt, the green background with the bright red circle reminds us of the brave history of 1971 as well as creates a patriotic sense among all the citizens. To celebrate this year's Victory Day, once again Nitya Upahar has come up with seven designs in T-shirts, delineating the tales of the heroes of 1971. The aim is to familiarise the post 1971 generation about that time.

To formally launch the apparel, a ceremony was held yesterday at the shop premises. One of the leading singers of Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra, Apel Mahmud, inaugurated the exhibition.

'This is a humble tribute to the martyrs of the Liberation War,' said Bahar. 'And as the T-shirt is an easily accessible medium for the young generation, the history of the valiant freedom fighters and those who sacrificed their lives for the country can be portrayed easily,' he said. 'In our line of T-shirts, we also pay our heartiest tribute to those foreign personalities in our T-shirts, who supported the Liberation War during 1971. Towards this end, we have brought out two pieces on Joan Baez and George Harrison, for their roles in collecting fund for the war ravaged Bangladesh by organising a concert titled Concert for Bangladesh,' he added.

Popular graphic artist Dhruba Esh is the designer of one of the T-shirts in the exhibition. 'Whenever I read the poem Swadhinota Tumi by Shamsur Rahman, I feel the power, and visualise the greatest time of our history and thus in my T-shirt I just illustrate the poem,' said Dhruba. On a black background, the lines of the poem are written in green with an abstract white hand with blood on its centre, is an excellent depiction of the history. Especially the lines written on the bottom of the illustration, Swadhinota tumi bondhur hatey tarar moton joljoley ek ranga poster -- can easily inspire one to become more interested in those times.

The T-shirt titled Desher torey dilo jara is an extraordinary piece. This depicts the seven courageous fighters, known as Bir Sreshtha, on an off- white background. Designed by Abdul Aziz, this piece reminds us of the true patriots of the country who fought their lives for the freedom and now are relegated to anonymity.

1971 Spirit of Freedom is the piece by Anisuzzaman Sohel, in which a beautiful collage of the different scenes of valiant freedom fighters are depicted on a cream background.

Concert for Bangladesh and The Peace Queen are the two T-shirts designed by Sabyasachi Hajra. These outline the songs Bangladesh and Song of Bangladesh and portraits of George Harrison and Joan Baez respectively.

Swadhinota, is the only piece for the children designed by Najib Tareque. The navy blue background captures a portrait of a Muktijodhha carrying the flag of Bangladesh and can easily attract children.

Apart from these seven pieces for the Christmas, two more T-shirts are on display. The exhibition will go on till December 25.