The Tale of the Soil

Solo Exhibition

2026

Gallery 5, Liberation War Museum, Dhaka

Medium: multi-channel video, photo print, DTF print, found object, lightbox, LED neon

This exhibition is supported by the British Council’s Women of the World (WOW) Bangladesh 2026 programme.

Image Credit: MH Alash and Momin

The exhibition emerges from the intersection of memory and domesticity, presenting the narratives of the mothers in my family. In the form of memories of dwellings, some family spirits, especially my paternal grandmother, are connected to her children and relatives; it is not a micro-historical summary, nor a sociological investigation of lived reality. The narrative begins and ends with the interior and surroundings of a visible, fragile mud house. The family house, which has been abandoned over time, serves as my point of departure. This traditional mud house in a village about 29 kilometres from Chattogram city, now the last remaining symbol of a declining agricultural economy, is at the heart of my work. 

As the primary motif of my work, it supplies the narrative backbone of the architecture of absence that I have in mind.

The house, where my ancestors used to live, is located in this small village. The narrative begins with memories and recollections shared by my grandma, my paternal aunt, my parents, and my neighbours. Their fragmentary words are the base matter through which I rebuild the architecture of the spirit of natural living, recalling a time when village life gave a sense of serenity and authenticity.

Though mud houses are among the traditional housing types still in use in rural areas of Bangladesh, that is not the architecture my work focuses on. Rather, I focus on the architecture that reflects the absence of a group of people from their homes, the disappearance of socio-cultural relationships between families, neighbours, and relatives, and, most importantly, the spiritual connection that the inhabitants once had with local beliefs. In the process, I also do not want to preclude the impact of the political and historical context of their time.

    

Door

Multi-channel video, archival prints, and objects

Exhibition: The year-long art project was developed to celebrate the recognition of Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain’s Sultana’s Dream as a UNESCO Memory of the World (Asia-Pacific) register entry. Nineteen artists ultimately exhibited their work in the exhibition.

Reimaging Sultana's Dream, 6 December 2025 – 7 March 2026

Liberation War Museum, Agargaon, Dhaka

The visual narrative is inspired by the power and imagination of my grandmother and the women of her time in the region where my family's roots belong. The experiences I see of them in some of my memories reflect a kind of guardianship. Although I did not see any clear manifestation of women's autonomy or empowerment among them, they nevertheless created their own world centred on work, knowledge, and everyday life within the family and social circle. They were the rulers and guardians of that realm. Although the narrative is not a direct account of the life or work of any individual, it is a blend of memory and imagination, where an attempt is made to piece together fragmented narratives through images and stories.

In this narrative, Sultana’s Dream (1905), a Bengali feminist utopian story written by Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain, serves as an underlying reference. Portrayed from the text of Sultana’s Dream, I have reimagined and fictionalised the memories of my relatives through elements of science fiction and fantasy.

 

    Installation view                                          video still

 Installation view   

video still

Installation view 

video stillInstallation view

Broken Lens

Mixed-media installation 
Two-channel video (TV and projector), sound object, archival print as a counter gaze of the video and Bengali and English LED neon text
Exhibition: Body and the Map, curated by Sharmillie Rahman
Bengal Shilpalay, Dhaka, 2024

The incident occurred in mid-August, 2024 when a cultural gathering was disrupted due to an attack by certain individuals. I witnessed this event firsthand. As I attempted to document the scene with my phone camera, my device was destroyed in the ensuing chaos. This confrontation deeply influenced me and became a key element in this body of work, where I integrated both the experience and the broken phone itself.

Broken Lens, installation view, Bengal Shilpalay, Dhaka, 2024

Broken Lens,  video still

The Days of Logout

Single-channel video and five pieces archival prints

Exhibition: Body and the Map, curated by Sharmillie Rahman

Bengal Shilpalay, Dhaka
2024

The event took place in 2024 during an internet blackout, which left me reliant on limited media sources—primarily newspapers and television—to stay informed. The constraints on communication during that time profoundly impacted my perspective. This work also draws on that experience, exploring the sense of isolation and dependency on specific sources for information amidst restricted access.

Days of logout, video still

Whimsy

Double-channel video with twelve pieces of archival prints, 2023

Duration of video: One minute and five seconds

Solo Exhibition: Of Fragments

Curated by Sharmillie Rahman
Kalakendra, Lalmatia, Dhaka

 

‘Whimsy, a double channel video installation with prints to accompany, dramatizes the dismemberment of the human body recompensed by surfeit of concessional information disseminated by the mechanics of marketing and consumerism. Axing its primordial contacts with the world, the body is denuded of its vitality of movements and intentionality of actions, and eventually is reduced to the repetitive moves emulating that of a stringed puppet.'

- Sharmillie Rahman 

                                                           

Whimsy, double-channel video with archival prints, each print size: 11 x 8 in, solo exhibition 'Of Fragments'', Kalakendra, Dhaka, 2023, 

Photo courtesy: Sheik Nafi Hassan

Whimsy, archival prints, each print size:11 X 8 in

Whimsy, video still

বায়না বয়ান

পলাশ ভট্টাচার্য্য

‘বায়না’, সিরিজটি নভেম্বর ২০২৩, ঢাকাস্থ কলাকেন্দ্রে ‘অংশ বিশেষ’ শিরোনামে আমার একক প্রদর্শণীতে স্থান পেয়েছিলো। এই কর্মকান্ডে ছিল ১২টি ডিজিটাল কোলাজের আর্কাইভাল প্রিন্টের সিরিজ ও ডাবল চ্যানেল ভিডিও চিত্রের সমন্বয়ে একটি স্থাপনা। প্রাথমিকভাবে, বিপণন এবং ভোগবাদের যান্ত্রিকতায় প্রচারিত তথ্যের প্রতি যে আকর্ষণ যাপিত জীবনে লক্ষ্য করা যায় তাকে ঘিরেই এই দৃশ্যকল্পের পরিকল্পনা করা হয়। যদিও এইখানে শৈশবের স্মৃতির একটা প্রভাব আছে, পাশাপাশি বাস্তবতার সাথে ব্যক্তিগত বিভিন্ন আগ্রহের একটি সাংঘর্ষিক সম্পর্ককে তুলে আনা হয়েছে। এখানে ব্যক্তিগত ইচ্ছে বা আগ্রহগুলোর অপূর্ণতা, এবং জেদের প্রতিক্রিয়াকে বিভিন্ন ফর্মে তুলে আনা হয়েছে। শারীরিক অঙ্গভঙ্গি, সাধারণ বস্তু এবং বাংলা ও ইংরেজি বিভিন্ন অক্ষরের বিন্যাস এই কোলাজগুলোতে করা হয়েছে। এই কাজটি করার সময় আমি কিছু নাটকীয়তার বিন্যাসে মানবদেহ ও তার চলাফেরার প্রাণশক্তি এবং কার্যকলাপের ইচ্ছাশক্তি থেকে বঞ্চিত হওয়ার উত্তেজনা, পাশাপাশি, মানুষের অবদমিত ধারণার আকারগুলোকেও বিভিন্ন আঙ্গিকে দেখেছিলাম। পরিশেষে পুরো বিন্যাসকে মনে হচ্ছিলো দেহটি বোধ হয় পুতুলের মতো এবং এটি কোনো এক সুতোর টানে জীবনজুড়ে নিয়ন্ত্রিত হয়।

The work is planned around the attraction of our lives to the information disseminated by the mechanics of marketing and consumerism. However, childhood memories also influence this work, along with the conflicting relationships between various personal interests and reality. Various forms shape personal desires, imperfections, and reactions to stubbornness here. These collages use physical gestures, common objects, and are composed of Bengali and English letters. The dramatic arrangement of the work contains the excitement of being deprived of the vitality and willpower of the human body and its dynamics, as well as the multidimensional expression of human repressed thoughts. Ultimately, the entire arrangement seems to be that the body is like a puppet, which is being controlled throughout life by the pull of some invisible thread.