The spirit of war of independence has been highlighted in a group exhibition celebrating the 43rd Victory Day organised by Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy at the National Art Gallery.
The weeklong exhibition displays 100 paintings by noted and upcoming artists portraying the images of the valiant freedom fighters, war scenes and massacres done by the Pakistani army and its collaborators during the war.
The show also displays 71 photographs and 150 paintings created by child artists.
An acrylic painting titled Muktijoddha by Qayyum Chowdhury is on display at the exhibition. The colourful painting depicts several freedom fighters rejoicing the freedom waving the national flag after winning the brutal war. Maniruzzaman’s acrylic painting, which is also titled as Muktijoddha presents a different scene of the war. A valiant freedom fighter holding a rifle and fighting against the invading Pakistani soldiers can be seen in this Muktijoddha painting.
A mother with a small boy on her lap is depicted by Sharmin Zaman in her untitled painting. Jayanta Sarkar, on the contrary, has portrayed founder president of the country Sheikh Mujibur Rahman delivering the historical speech on March 7, 1971 in her vibrant painting.
A postal stamp of Bangladesh and a river with boats floating on it has been depicted in Nazrul Islam Aghrani’s untitled painting, painted in red and green, the colours of the National Flag. The painting also has the famous rhyme Tomar Amar Thikana Padma Meghna Jamuna written on it in black letters.
Artist Taslima Akter Badhon has portrayed the leaders of Pakistan in 1971 who were the masterminds behind the massacre created during the war. Badhon’s painting shows a huge table covered with the national flag of Bangladesh and four chairs around it. However, there are no human beings on the chairs, rather dogs and wolfs wearing Pakistani traditional head coverings are seen sitting and planning the massacre.
The photographs with no photo credit or caption show the actual account of the war from different perspectives. The black and white photographs taken during those dreadful times of the war reveal freedom fighters on training and on action, the killing ground of Rayerbazar with remainings of the intellectuals killed at the end of the war, cityscapes destroyed by the battles and many other accounts. Some of the images also show the procession marched by the people of the country protesting against the domination of the West Pakistanis prior to the war of independence.
The child artists’ section of the show depicts the war in colourful drawings and paintings. The children have depicted war scenes where freedom fighters are seen to be killing the Pakistani soldiers with rifles and grenades. Freedom fighters’ ecstasy on victory, atrocities of the Pakistani soldiers, general people helping the freedom fighters have also been colourfully depicted in paintings by those small yet capable artists.
Inaugurated on December 14, the exhibition will remain open from 11:00am to 7:00pm till today.
-With New Age input
