Bangladesh

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Bangladesh has a flourishing youth activist movement with art taking a central role. Yet the spaces for art making are becoming increasingly restrictive, and many artists avoid controversial subjects for fear of reprisals. Dibarah Mahboob, a young artist and humanitarian worker from Dhaka, is determined to use her art to create change and empower marginalised groups. Sensing the challenges as well as the potential of entering the art scene at this heightened time, she seeks out other artists to learn from their experiences. Dibarah meets established experimental artists like Tayeba Begum Lipi and Mahbubur Rhaman, co-founders of Britto Arts Trust, who challenge gender and religious conventions and have always sought to revalidate traditional Bangladeshi culture within their work, counter to popular taste. She also talks to newcomers carving out spaces for disseminating art online and offline, away from the more elite gallery spaces. Dibarah describes the 2018 student protests against dangerous traffic conditions, which resulted in the deaths of two children and brought Dhaka to a standstill for 9 days, as a catalyst for the art scene. Cartoonist Mahakabbo’s striking image of defiant students became a visual frontier for the movement, which was mainly organised via social media. His image went viral. This is something distinct to Bangladesh’s protest environment - with the lack of interest in and frequent prohibition of public art like murals, socially conscious artists reclaim social media as their public domain and space to share protest art. They have a captive audience - the capital, Dhaka, is the city with the second highest number of Facebook users in the world. Yet the internet is also being strictly policed under a harsh new digital communications law, and members of the public have attacked people who post controversial opinions. Photographer Shahidul Alam was arrested after he voiced his support for the protests and condemned government corruption in a TV interview. Out on bail and under intense surveillance, Shahidul tells Dibarah, “The only reason I practice art is because it works....Art gets underneath the skin, art, finds cracks. Art has this ability to enter your shadow...I've continued to speak and I'm doing it now. And I will continue to do so.” This is the second of two programmes, using art as the lens through which to explore key social and political issues in countries around the world. Presenter: Dibarah Mahboob Image: Mahakabbo aka Mahatab Rashid Field Sound Recordist: Susannah Savage Additional Recording: Shamim Hossain Executive Producers: Sarah Cuddon, Andrew McGibbon Producer: Louise Morris A Curtains For Radio production for BBC Radio 4