Shubho O Saha
"Traditional Street Seller in Urban Hours"
Urban life doesn't really let us feel the significance of present existence, and its background. In the photograph I have depicted traditional mobile sellers and their life, while their professions became endangered due to rapid changes in the urbanized way of living and consumption. And wrote those words in the air which they use during selling products.
Shubho Saha is a Dhaka-based interdisciplinary artist, a founding member of the artist collective Back ART Foundation, and the founding director of the Dhaka Live Art Biennale (D’LAB). As a leading advocate for the contemporary art field in Bangladesh, his recent achievement included Asian Cultural Council (ACC) fellowship award to research contemporary art practice in the NYC, USA (2016-2017). Shubho’s other major achievements are: Best Award for Photography from Japan Bangladesh Cultural Society in Tokyo – 2018, ‘Young Printmaker Award’, Bangladesh Cultural Ministry & Kalakendra in 2015, Fellowship at Salina Art Center, KS, USA in 2015, Residency Grant in Shangyuan Art Museum, Beijing, China in 2014, Dean's Award from University of Dhaka in 2007, Honorable award from Kelaghor in 2004, and receiving recognition for his innovative ideas and art projects. His works were featured solo in Bangladesh, China and USA and he has participated in many group exhibitions around the world. His works are usually held in private and corporate collections. He earned his BFA and MFA from the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh and was born on 26th May, 1982 in Chittagong, Bangladesh.
I am a visual artist and part-time researcher, live and work in Dhaka, Bangladesh, but I am sometimes mentioned as an Art Activist, because I generally work for advancement of society and the artist community in Bangladesh. My art projects talk against inequality and refuse to engage in consumerist lifestyle.
I wished to work as an Artist so I could create a soulful narration of my personal and social experiences through my artistic practice. I've founded an artists’ collective called Back ART Foundation and wish to participate on a global stage, in dialogue internationally with the frontiers of our profession. I wish to make an authentic contribution to the art of our time, while helping make Bangladeshi art and culture more widely known to the established art world.
Social issues and political unrest touches me. As an artist I do not only produce works for myself, I work for people and take initiative with fellow artists to bring art to the public, to secure space for young Bangladeshi artists to work. My artistic interest involves South Asian religious aspects, border issues, context of food politics, social and environmental crisis, economic instability, effect of urbanization, consumerism and climate change.