14 Feb The treasures from Shukhair

A performative public art by Julian A. Jimarez during the 7th episode of Uronto Residential Art Exchange Program in Shukhair, Sunamganj, BD.

As part of the seventh episode of the project artist and curator Julian A. Jimarez worked with several artists including Tarak Das, Tanmoy Nandi, Dhannajay Kumar, Emran Sohel, and Baloram Debnath on collecting oral histories of the palace from the local villagers. One recurring subject across stories was the presence of a buried treasure. Looking at the village and at the site, it was clear that the real treasure was all around the villagers, but perhaps out of sight. Walking around the small island Julian noticed small clay fragments embedded into the walking paths (Shukair is a small alluvial island with no roads, mostly accessible by boat).

Adopting a performative mode, Julian acted as a “Western Archeologist” gathering small clay and ceramic fragments from the ground area around the site. Soon many villagers were joining him and had a prime collection of clay fragments. from there artist washed and cleaned the fragments in a highly public way so that the historic items normally littering the floor were seen, at least through the lens of hegemony, as precious. Once the fragments had dried in the sun, he again gathered them and in private documented each fragment with his camera establishing an archive of the collective “dig”.

Having thus preserved the pieces he decided to fabricate a treasure, after which he laboriously hand painted each fragment gold. Concluding the exhibition on the island, Julian placed the golden fragments on a white display cloth and hid them in a secret passage under a stair case in the small palace. Illuminating the waist high chamber with candles and lit bunches of incense throughout the structures. After a time, a treasure hunt was declared and visitors could wander in search of the golden fragments. The treasure was soon discovered and the villagers quickly rushed to claim their own pieces in great excitement.
Through this artistic intervention artist hope that villagers can become more aware of their own preciousness and take pride in living where they are.

URONTO has a small selection as ephemera for their archive. These were shown as part of the artist led initiatives section at the 4th Dhaka Art Summit in 2018.

Julian A. Jimarez is an artist and curator from USA. In his creative processes he is drawn to certain tensions. Particularly, the friction between what is intended, what is done, and how that action is perceived.