20 Nov URONTO Residential Art Exchange Program- 7th Episode

The Seventh Episode of the Residential Art Exchange Program took place in the Massive heritage palace named Shukhair Jaminder House in Shunamganj in Sylhet Division of Bangladesh. This was the second project locating in Shunamganj. URONTO team successfully traced out the family generations of the palace and revived the history and stories related in this program. The seventh episode started by 9^th October just after the sixth episode ended by 16^th October 2017.

Sylhet Division also known as Greater Sylhet or Sylhet region is the northeastern division of Bangladesh, named after its main city, Sylhet. Sunamganj is one of the four districts in Sylhet. The name Sunamganj is derived from its founder, Sipahi Sunamuddin.

Shukhair Palace is one of the attractive palaces in Shunamganj. Shukhair Jaminder family history started 500 years ago with a person named Mahamanikya Datta. The third generation of his was Joy Dhar, who brought fame and glory to the family. Joy Dhar was a very popular person for the family. While his third-generation families extended, three Zaminder House/ Palace were built in Shukhair, which were named the Boro Bari (Large palace), Moddhom Bari (Middle palace), Chhoto Bari (Small palace) and was distributed in three brothers from Joy Dhars third generation’s sons.  Years later when Rajeshshori the girl child from the sixth Generation of the family got married, another palace in Shukhair was built and was named Noya Bari(New House) where she and her house husband lived for the rest of their life. Shukhair Zaminder Family has a lot of glorious family history which is getting blur day by day. One of the family member still lives beside Shukhair Zaminder house and another member Mohon Chowdhury lives in Sylhet who mostly looks after the lands and the palace now.

During the project, the curatorial process ensured that the artists are careful not to immediately romanticize and prioritize the original use of the site as being more authentic, but also should consider the social use of the site as a continuing narrative of which they became a part of then. The aesthetical intervention, addressed as the Site-responsive Art by the curator, clearly encouraged the local empowerment and initiatives into how space should be “regenerated.

The selected artists for this episode were: Abhimanyu Dalui (India), Abida Rahman (BD), Ahmed Ahmed (Egypt), Anjana Karmakar (India), Baloram Debnath (India), Bibhu Natha (India), Dhannjay Kumar (India), Emily Webitsch (Germany), Emran Sohel (BD), Esha Mukherjee (India), Farhana Shetu (BD), Imran Hassan (BD), Julian A. Jimarez Howard (USA), Monon Muntaka (BD), MD. Shafayet Hossain (BD), Nadine Gutbrod (Germany), Rama Sharma (India), Sanju Basak (India), Santua Tripura (BD), Sarojini Lewis (Netherlands), Shahriare khan shihab (BD), Shams Zaman (BD), Suresh K Nair (India), Tonmoy Nandi (India), Tarak Das (India), Torreja (NY), Muscas Wee (Germany).

Like any other episodes artists were encouraged to use the found materials and collaborate with the local community. At the end, all the work produced in the site were truly inspiring and interactive. The artists did a clear justice to the site and the opportunity.

The program had three phases to it, first the working process on the site, second the open studio day at the end and third is the exhibition in the Sunmaganj Shilpakala Academy in the city.

The Open studio day was almost like a festival in the area and all curious people from villages around finally realized that Art still can be done in the rurals with the rural community without any commercial aspect to it.

The exhibition in Shilpakala Academy was inaugurated by the District Commissioner and other honorable guests from the city. Was visited by different layers of audience form Sunamganj city and near by areas.

Detail of all the works done in the Programme will be soon uploaded in the archive section.

URONTO is hosting site responsive residential art exchange programmes since 2012, within disused or abandoned spaces and heritage buildings to document cultural memories and brand Bangladesh globally through multidisciplinary artists’ collaborations. URONTO’s activities not only provide much-needed opportunities for emerging artists to expand their working practice and collaborate with international artists, but through each residency, they create an alternative documentation about the history of the selected site before it’s demolished and forgotten.
The Project invite artists and practitioners through open call and selects then through a curatorial board created newly for every Episode. It is an international program open for all kind of discipline.