In quest of liberty
"I paint from my memory or mingle it with the present times," he says, "The Liberation War was for peace and harmony in Bangladesh. In Victory-1971 (oil), I've used contrasting black and white for symbolic effect. Images of raised waving hands are signs of victory. We have the memory of much pain and bloodshed. The stark black is for blood and agony. Meanwhile, the ruby red, put in ovular splashes, sweeps and lines, represent hard-earned peace." The shadow, he explains, is for making the composition more interesting and effective.
Women's role in Liberation Movement (serigraph print) contains rounded women's visages in the forefront, with Sufia Kamal's portrait in the centre. This piece is dedicated to the poet's role in the freedom movement. Abstract forms in the backdrop, with motifs taken from past war memories, are done in variations of buoyant blue, yellow and black circular splashes. The linear faces are included in yellow-ochre and bright blue. Six flying doves of peace, headed for the sky, bring in the essential element of optimism. The vermilion in the background stands for unquestionable strength. The carefully sketched in motifs, tanks and arms -- carefully juxtaposed at the back -- bring in the images of warring armies of the past. The fluttering Bangladeshi flag remains a powerful focal point. Emotions and memories are thus mingled with mastery.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. In the same passionate vein is Birangona. "The subject craves for peace, although she is well aware of the fact that her position in society may not be favourable. The bird in her hand is one of her imagination. There is little value of her pain in the past, and her future too is bleak in our current society. As she wishes to stay behind curtains and veils, there is only one eye in the portrait," Hashem Khan says.
Hashem Khan, a retired professor of the Fine Arts Dept, DU is now a freelance artist, enjoying even commercial work. In his youth he has made festoons, banners, caricatures, with liberation of the country in mind. He says that even Bangabandhu's stage decorations -- during the declaration of the Six Points in Hotel Elysium, Dhaka -- posters, pamphlets, the banner headings (in abstract) of Bangla newspapers in 1971 like Ittefaq, were executed by him. His students, Manzurul Hye, Biren Shome, Abul-Barq Alvi and others, since 1966, worked alongside him, in quest of liberty.
His childhood home, in Chandpur, was one that encouraged the flowering of nationalism. His village home had been attacked in 1971, his brother dying as a consequence. Hashem still wears the bullet mark of that fateful incident of the past.