Dhaka: Alliance Française de Dhaka will be hosting the 33th solo painting exhibition titled Organic Life by artist Kazi Salahuddin Ahmed from 13 October 2015. There are around 30 artworks to be displayed at the exhibition.

The inauguration of the exhibition will be held on 13 October 2015 at 6:00pm.

Sculptor Hamiduzzaman Khan will be present on the occasion as the chief guest.  Artist Abdus Shakoor Shah will be present as the honourable guest.  Architect Jalal Ahmed and artist Mustofa Zaman will be present as the special guest at the event.  Alliance Française de Dhaka director Bruno Plasse will preside over the opening ceremony.

Kazi Salahuddin Ahmed arranged his first exhibition in 1987. He has already participated in many group exhibitions and carried out exhibitions in Bangladesh and abroad.

For his 33th solo exhibition, the artist has chosen his subjects from Old Dhaka. His objective is to depict an organic city. For this, he has drawn aerial views of Dhaka as well as faces.

Organic City

Built by the Mughals from fifteenth century onwards, Old Dhaka was developed as the provincial centre of commerce for the Eastern Bengal. In spite of the British colonisation, this 'nature' remained essentially the same for centuries. With the advent of modernity all that is changing. Dhaka is now a capital city and the pressures of urbanisation and development are resulting in the loss of a unique way of life. Commerce has always been the heart of Old Dhaka but the current level of commercialisation cannot be contained within its confines. As a result, marginalisation and decay have become the order of the day. The lives and structures keep falling apart. Viewed from the dominant paradigm Old Dhaka has come completely irrelevant and perhaps even unwanted.

The main objective of Kazi Salahuddin Ahmed’s work is to break the stereotypes constructed by this dominant paradigm. He believes that Old Dhaka has much to offer especially in terms of the advent of individualism that has wreaked havoc in our society. The bonding and the togetherness, neighborhood and belongingness, all these can substantially provide in the highly competitive environment of the present day. His work is, therefore, focused to reinvent the old city. The forms, composition, colours and the structures are reflective of this central ideology. It incorporates elements from his childhood memories, aspects of the daily existence and are blended together to reflect the fantastic rhythm, music, smell and texture of the Old Dhaka.

The exhibition will remain open to all until 31 October 2015 to Thursday (3:00pm to 9:00pm), Friday and Saturday (9:00am to12:00noon and 5:00pm to 8:00pm), except for Sundays.