09 Feb The Dream Catcher

The artworks placed on the architectural surrounding of the Lakhotia House in the Forth Episode were embellished with faded memories formulated with the combination of two fundamental sources; one, which included various historical books and second, personal interview with Mukherjee. The written sources were concentrated on the political, economic, and social concerns of the 1950 and 1971 riots, while a one-on-one conversation with Mukherjee brought new light to the historical understanding of Lakhotia existence. Her stories were based on the emotional journey of her childhood along with her witnessing the socio-political and economic hurt during those times. Therefore, the artists stitched these two sources together to tailor artworks representing their responses associated with the Lakhotia House.

When Mukherjee shared her experiences of the house, she also added that she could not sleep in the night whenever she visited the place again, it became a sort of a nightmare for her after abandoning her childhood. This line struck the artistic chords of textile designer, Choudhury, who stitched a dream catcher as her response to the history that still remains persistently woven in Mukherjee’s heart and a frame sewed by colorful dreams and histories.
Chowdhury who used one existing door and a window for her ideas. She represented some stories on the empty frames of the door and window by the elements of textile designing.

Mandira Ray Chowdhury Mukherje’s childhood was filled with colorful memories in this house. The artist tried to portray her childhood memories in a colorful tree on the window through a colorful tapestry. Both the works were dedicated to her.

The inaugural of the Open Studio Day was glorified by the gracious presence of Mondira Ray Chowdhury Mukherjee, the last family member of the Lakhotia ancestral chart, along with Barisal’s Police Commissioner, Mr. Shaibal Kanti Chowdhury, on January 8, 2015. The Open Studio Day was also witnessed by important political figures, women, NGO’s, writers, scholars, journalists, amateur artists, local community, and the flag bearers of the future generation – the village children, who watched as well as fully participated in various events such as art therapy and theater workshops conducted by Hamida Khatri and Aditi K. Gupta, respectively.

Title: The Dream Catcher & The tree of life like the testimony of time-1
Artist: Tasmin Chowdhury
Time and place: Forth Episode of UORNTO Residential Art Exchange Program at Barisal 2014

Content developed by Towhid Islam Khan