Monday | 28 April 2025 | Reg No- 06
Bangla
   
Bangla | Monday | 28 April 2025 | Epaper
BREAKING: ● Jamaat calls for independent Arakan State for Rohingyas      ● 46th BCS written exam postponed amid protests      ● Interpol alert issued against Saima Wazed Putul      ● Khaleda Zia to return soon      ● Zonayed Saki calls for clear timeline for national polls      ● BNP calls for immediate election roadmap      ● Govt decides to form two PSCs: Asif Mahmud      

Artists' initiative to ensure women rights

Published : Saturday, 22 March, 2025 at 12:00 AM  Count : 328
Md Sazedul Islam
Artists from the South Asia assembled in Sri Lankan capital Colombo recently under the banner of an India-based organization 'Fearless' as part of their efforts for establishing the rights of women, environment and migration victims, and economically backward people through their professional roles.

Fearless is a collective initiative that involves community-based mural painting with female artists from the South Asia. Indian visual artist Shilo Shiv Suleman founded Fearless in 2012 following a sensational rape incident in New Delhi, India. The goal of the Fearless is to create space for community creativity, creative thought, social discourse, and beauty in the face of disaster and emergency.

The ambassadorship programme was hosted in Colombo, Sri Lanka for the second time this year. Ahsana Angona from Bangladesh and 14 other female artists from various South Asian countries participated.

Regarding the residency this year, it is the second stage of the programme for the ambassadors. Out of the numerous applicants, 15 female artists from across South Asia were selected through online artist calls on social media platforms, and every one of them also had to pass an interview with the organizers.

During these procedures, Ahsana Angona from Bogura, Bangladesh was chosen. She represented Bangladesh in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

They were ecstatic and enthusiastic from the moment they arrived in Colombo. Storytelling, icebreakers, and getting to know the other participants better occupied the first three days. Tracing each person's story and holding a self-healing session were the initial activities of the residence.

Everyone responded emotionally, and they all shared their journeys up to this point. Additionally, each of them completed a large self-portrait with affirmative stories to mark the conclusion of the first day of the residency programme.

The participants mapped their bodies, histories, and areas on the second day of the residency. They also used affirmative slogans to spread their method of resistance. Additionally, the history of the archive and its destruction throughout time were covered.

On the third day of the residency, the participants learned about their community NGO partners, and how it included fearless methods. How their lives have unfolded throughout time and how they came to be who they are now.

After hearing about their challenges, the artists were all motivated to get to know and engage with their community. Storytellers in visual form, written from or maybe also just by doing recitals of the stories, were shared. Their own version of resistance in their life was shown and discussed about how we can do that with our lives.


There were workshop and seminar. On the fourth and fifth days, they worked on the workshop, which required the participants to organize their ideas with their assigned community NGO partners. "Bio-Diversity Project," "Every Story Sri Lanka," and "Sri Lanka Reconciliation Movement" were the community partners they collaborated with. Each of these three groups fought to improve society so that nature could be recognized, protected, and a woman's message could be heard.

They also vowed to work to bring peace, which is not an act of rebellion but rather a labor of love.

Here, Angona, a visual artist, collaborated with "Every Story Sri Lanka," a community partner. The participating ambassadors organized their seminars based on the contributions made by the community partners to the nation and society.

The participating ambassadors began working on their assigned mural on the sixth day. The wall of "Rio Cinema," which has a noted past of its own and is also a famous scene in the slave island region, was chosen for the mural for this project. As they collected stories, lessons, and laughter during the residency programme, they started to cover the wall.
The ambassadors worked diligently and lovingly to paint their mural on days seven and eight. The stories' pleasures and sorrows were twisted by their careful brushstrokes.

In recognition of their contributions to the community, the community NGO partners were also featured in the mural. Together, they painted three stories on the Rio Cinema's walls.

This is not the end of the programme known as residency. The artists have not yet finished painting their own murals around their community in the location of their choice.

After attending the event, the participants will return their homes and are expected to apply their knowledge in their respective communities in a bid to achieve the objective for which Fearless was established.

Ahsana Angona has decided to complete her project in Bogura, where she was born. She wishes to support a community of Bogura that has a history of working with women. Angona wishes to tell the tales of women whose tales have not yet been told.

The author is a freelance journalist


LATEST NEWS
MOST READ
Also read
Jewish diasporas are not Israeli outposts
Impact of salinity intrusion on our agriculture
'Forgotten work force' with their invisible tax contributions
Our health reforms should focus on leprosy
How to save education in haor regions thru locally developed methods 
Our environment is a treasure - and our legacy
Air pollution is playing havoc with human life  
Legal process for business mergers, acquisitions in Bangladesh
Editor : Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury
Published by the Editor on behalf of the Observer Ltd. from Globe Printers, 24/A, New Eskaton Road, Ramna, Dhaka.
Editorial, News and Commercial Offices : Aziz Bhaban (2nd floor), 93, Motijheel C/A, Dhaka-1000.
Phone: PABX- 41053001-06; Online: 41053014; Advertisement: 41053012.
E-mail: [email protected], news©dailyobserverbd.com, advertisement©dailyobserverbd.com, For Online Edition: mailobserverbd©gmail.com
🔝
close