To commemorate 50 years of India – Bangladesh friendship, an exhibition of the works of artist Rokeya Sultana was opened for public viewing on Wednesday at the Indian Cultural Centre, Gulshan.
Prof Muntassir Mamoon, eminent historian, writer, and Chair of 1971 Genocide Torture Archive and Museum and Indian High Commissioner Vikram Doraiswami graced the occasion.
They also launched a recently published monograph on Rokeya Sultana’s works produced by the Bengal Foundation in close collaboration with the artist.
The event in Dhaka is a curtain raiser for the first standalone show of the artworks of Rokeya Sultana in India, which will open on October 23 in New Delhi’s prestigious Lalit Kala Academy. The exhibition of artworks will also travel to Kolkata in December and is being fully hosted by ICCR. This exhibition, curated and arranged by the Bengal Foundation, traces the artist's fascinating trajectory from her years as student in Shantiniketan, trained under the guidance of Somnath Hore, Sanat Kar, and Lalu Prasad Shaw to the flowering of her artistic career in Bangladesh with Safiuddin Ahmed and Mohammad Kibria among her mentors.
Rokeya Sultana, an award-winning Bangladeshi printmaker and painter received recognition in the 9th Asian Biennale and the National Art Exhibition, Dhaka; the 3rd Bharat Bhavan Biennale, India; and a residency scholarship to L'Atelier Lacouriere et Frelaut, Paris.
She obtained her Masters degree in Fine Arts from Vishwa Bharati, Shantiniketan under an ICCR scholarship in 1983.