Dhaka: Colliding Collages, a painting exhibition by artist Mohammad Harun-ar-Rashid Tutul has begun at La Galerie of Alliance Française de Dhaka (AFD). The inauguration of the exhibition was held on 27 July at 6:00pm.

University of Dhaka vice-chancellor A A M S Arefin Siddique, Comprehensive Disaster Management Programme’s National project director (additional secretary) Mohammad Abdul Qayyum, Nisar Hossain, Dean, Faculty of Fine Art, University of Dhaka; eminent artist Mohammad Eunus and artist and critic Mostafa Zaman Mithu were among the guests present in the opening ceremony. AFD director Bruno Plasse welcomed the guests and also presided over the ceremony.

Tutul was born at Jaypurhat in 1976. After finishing his post-graduation in Graphic Design from Dhaka University he is working as an assistant professor in the department.  Colliding Collages, Harun’s first solo, is apparently a testimony to the divisive politics which now afflicts this deltaic region.

Colliding Collages

‘We are steaming through a ruthless wave of time. The familiar face of our country seems unknown now. From the pastoral to the urban, the whole territory is changing rapidly. Industrialisation has somewhat made the nature destructive towards mankind. The socio-cultural and socio-political do not match with the way we live now, and that gap is widening day by day. The socio-political atmosphere has made breathing tough for the ordinary people.' 

'The gluttony and hunger of power reflect through conflicts, violence, bombing, terror campaign, and fire tragedies. The most afflicted people are the least privileged ones. The misery is piling up on our psyche making us insensitive. But we still have the essence of our motherland, the vigorous arrangement of nature filled with life. Our soul still incorporates the spirit of the fight for our mother tongue, the struggle for our rights and the war cry to ams for our liberation war.’ Harboring these entangled thoughts, the artist tries to construct the various states of an individual’s heart and that of the society.

The exhibition will be open to all until 5 August at La Galerie in AFD from Monday to Thursday (3:00pm to 9:00pm), Friday and Saturday (9:00am to 12:00noon and 5:00pm to 8:00pm), except for Sundays.