25th National Art Exhibition underway at BSA

The 25th edition of the Young Artists’ Fine Arts Exhibition, one of the flagship art events of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy (BSA), began on Sunday at the National Art Gallery of BSA in the capital.

Organised by BSA, ‘National Art Exhibition’ is the biggest art exhibition in the country. BSA has been organising the Art Biennale since 1975 to bring together artists belonging to different age groups working in different mediums and techniques.

State Minister for cultural affairs KM Khalid inaugurated the exhibition followed by an award ceremony as chief guest at the National Art Gallery Auditorium of the academy. Presided over by the BSA director general Liaquat Ali Lucky, Independence Award-winning artist Hashem Khan, artist Abdul Mannan, artist Monirul Islam, and cultural affairs secretary Khalil Ahmed were present as special guests at the event.

The director of the BSA fine arts department Mini Karim delivered the welcome speech, while the secretary of the BSA Salahuddin Ahmed delivered a vote of thanks at the inaugural ceremony.

This year, the exhibition features 301 artworks by 261 promising artists of the country, among those 96 paintings, 60 sculptures, 39 printmaking works, 22 photography works, 10 crafts, 6 potteries, 38 installations, 7 graphic designs, 4 oriental arts, 11 new media arts, and 3 performance arts are put on display.

The jury board comprising artists Ahmed Shamsuddoha, artists Saidul Haque Juise, Kanak Chanpa Chakma, Mokhlesur Rahman, Mahabub Jamal Shamim, and Mofizul Islam selected 301 artworks for the exhibition.

A total of 20 prizes were handed over at the inaugural ceremony.

Guests and organisers handed over Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy Award 2023 and the best awards from nine different categories.

The participating artists who were nominated as winners of 11 awards in 11 categories and one overall grand award winner in the exhibition received their respective awards, certificates, and prize money cheques at the ceremony.

Jesmin Akter bagged Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy Award 2023, which is the best award in all categories, for her Installation titled ‘Transformation-2’.

Sajib Kumar Dey (installation art), Ashim Halder Sagor (ceramic), Md Fayez Jayatu Chakma (painting), Syed Tareq Rahman (sculpture), Nusrat Jahan (printmaking), Zihad Rabby (graphics design), Farhana Ferdausi (crafts), Mohammd Asadurjaman Aslam Molla (photography) and Bangladesh Performance Art Group in Performance Art Category won awards in respective categories.

The guests also handed over five Honourable Mention awards and five Sponsored Awards, namely Bengal Foundation Honourable Award, Artist Kalidas Karmakar Honourable Award, Language Activist Gaziul Haque Honourable Award, Shahjalal Islami Bank Foundation Honourable Award, and Artist Kazi Anowar Hossain Honourable Award.

The exhibition will continue till July 15, every day from 11 pm to 8 pm and 3 pm to 8pm on Friday in 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 number galleries at the National Art Gallery.