See Great Art
  • Home
  • Chadd Scott arts writer
  • Explore by Artist
    • Black Artists
    • Female Artists
    • Indigenous Art
  • Explore by Location
    • Art in Florida
    • Art in the Midwest
    • Art in the Northeast
    • Art in the South
    • Art in the West
    • New York City art
  • Contact
See Great Art
  • Home
  • Chadd Scott arts writer
  • Explore by Artist
    • Black Artists
    • Female Artists
    • Indigenous Art
  • Explore by Location
    • Art in Florida
    • Art in the Midwest
    • Art in the Northeast
    • Art in the South
    • Art in the West
    • New York City art
  • Contact
Art in the Midwest

Shahidul Alam brings activist banners to Wrightwood 659, Chicago

By Chadd ScottPosted on October 20, 20210 Comments
Photo Credit: Mohammad Shahnewaz Khan
Photo Credit: Mohammad Shahnewaz Khan

In keeping with its commitment to providing a platform for art that engages the critical issues of our time, Wrightwood 659 presents Shahidul Alam: We Shall Defy, an important exhibition of images and texts that illuminate the life and work of the renowned Bangladeshi photojournalist, teacher, writer, institution-builder, and activist Shahidul Alam, whose efforts on behalf of human rights have provoked both accolades and imprisonment.

Shahidul Alam

Photographer, writer, and human rights activist Shahidul Alam has been a long-time campaigner for social justice and has also challenged the global dominance of white western media. Alam’s resistance has been through his art and his activism, but also through the institutions he has built.

This has often led to confrontation with the powerful elite of his native Bangladesh. Over the last three decades, he has had a loaded gun pointed at his head and been stabbed. On 5th August 2018, after a critical interview on Al Jazeera, he was picked up by Bangladeshi security forces, blindfolded, handcuffed and tortured and eventually spent 107 days in incarceration.

After a global campaign for his release by more than a dozen Nobel laureates and world personalities, he was released on bail but still faces up to 14 years of imprisonment if convicted. He continues to resist.

Exhibition Overview

We Shall Defy includes photographs by Alam and his community of artists and activists, as well as illustrations, verse, and more by three additional artists: Amal Akash, a singer-songwriter and visual and performance artist based in Dhaka; Alam’s niece Sofia Karim, an architect and visual artist in London; and New York-based filmmaker, writer, photographer, and installation artist Naeem Mohaiemen and the King Kortobbyo team. Together, their work explores the turbulent path that Alam and his team have navigated in their struggle to achieve justice and equity.

The primary focus of the exhibition is a series of nine large banners that are inspired by an ancient form of Bangla art—Patachitara, cloth scrolls containing detailed depictions of mythical narratives. The banners in the exhibition are printed with photographs by Alam and 14 artists, thereby integrating the contemporary and ancient methods of storytelling while expanding on the turbulent experiences of the Bangladeshi people. Panels containing verse with illustrations by Amal Akash and texts by Alam bring context to each banner.

Occupying about 80 feet of wall space, the banners will shed light on a variety of subjects, from migration, to sex workers (with an image of a former sex worker who used her savings to establish an orphanage for children of other sex workers), to the lives of indigenous people in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, the disappearance of indigenous leader Kalpana Chakma, effectuated by the Bangladesh military, and the photography-based institutions that Alam has created, among other topics.

Elsewhere in the exhibition, a 23-foot wall contains an illustration board with texts and sketches by Sofia Karim that represent Alam’s life in the Keraniganj jail, and a multi-media timeline by Naeem Mohaiemen and the King Kortobbyo team that elaborates on the history of photography as a tool for activism.

About Wrightwood 659

Wrightwood 659 is a private, non-collecting institution devoted to socially engaged art and to architecture. Located at 659 W. Wrightwood Avenue, in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood, the intimate space officially opened on October 10, 2018, and presents two public exhibitions annually. Wrightwood 659 was designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Tadao Ando, who transformed the interior of a 1920s building with his signature concrete forms and poetic treatment of natural light.


Hours of Operation
Fridays, 12noon – 7:00pm
Saturdays, 10am – 5:00pm

Tickets
Tickets for the exhibition are $15 and available online only, through November 27, at tickets.wrightwood659.org/events. 

Please note, admission is by advance ticket only. Walk-ups are not permitted.

activism

Share

By Chadd Scott
0
0 Comments

What do you think? Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

No Comments Yet.

Florida Highwaymen Art

Instagram

seegreatart

seegreatart
OUTRAGEOUS detail in @myrlandeconstant queen-sized OUTRAGEOUS detail in @myrlandeconstant queen-sized-comforter-big bead, sequin and tassels on fabric ‘Reincarnation des Mortes’ (2022) on view along with many other examples at @fortgansevoort. 
This is her largest work to date and shares story of Haitian Vodou Gede spirits associated with the dead. 
#haiti #haitian #vodou #reincarnation #myrlandeconstant #nycgallery #newyorkgallery #chelsea #beads #sequins #skeleton #skull
Taking full advantage of my week in NYC and stoppe Taking full advantage of my week in NYC and stopped by an artist’s talk and reception for Charles Gaines this morning at @hauserwirth where his new “Southern Trees” series debuted.
Gaines was born in #charleston #southcarolina, but left as a young kid, returning for summers with family. The 150 year old #pecan #trees he photographed for the new works reside at @boonehallplantation outside Charleston. 
#charlesgaines #charlesgainesart #newyorkcity #newyorkgallery #contemporaryart
#yayoikusama x #louisvuitton pop up at corner of G #yayoikusama x #louisvuitton pop up at corner of Gansevoort and Washington in #nyc #greenwichvillage right next to Whitney Museum.
#dizzy #mirror #retailtherapy #kusama #newyorkcity #newyorknewyork #fashion #spots #polkadots #polkadot
@shahzia.sikander ‘Witness’ (2023) freshly ins @shahzia.sikander ‘Witness’ (2023) freshly installed at @madsqparknyc. 
Gloomy day out for a walk on my annual trip to NYC. Big gallery day tomorrow!
Thanks to Highwaymen Art Specialists (link in bio) Thanks to Highwaymen Art Specialists (link in bio) for invite to opening of “Florida Highwaymen: Dashboards Dreams” Friday at @aebackusmuseum in Fort Pierce. 
I’d put these landscapes up against any from art history… just a taste of the show on view through February 26, 2023. 
#florida #floridalife #floridahighwaymen #painting
Honored to share Lucinda Hinojos painting which wi Honored to share Lucinda Hinojos painting which will be the featured image of the #SuperBowl game ticket. Hinojos is the 1st #chicana and #nativeamerican artist to work with the #nfl. She is of Pascua Yaqui, Chiricahua Apache, White Mountain #apache and Akimel O’Odham descent on her mother’s side.
Her artwork features an #azteca dancer, a #fancyshawl #dancer, #hummingbird, Akimel O’Odham basket and other Indigenous representations, including 22 diamonds on the mountains for #arizona 22 native tribes.
Read more about the artist and artwork in my story about her from today. Link in bio, click “Forbes art + travel.”
#fancyshawldancer #nflnews @nfl @nflnetwork @azsuperbowl @visit_arizona
@noconab_art_studio_ ‘s portrait of “Doc” Ta @noconab_art_studio_ ‘s portrait of “Doc” Tate Nevaquaya commissioned and installed in the Oklahoma State Capitol last year. 
Read more about the painting by visiting the “Forbes art + travel” stories section at link in bio.
@visitokc #comanche #oklahoma #oklahomacity
Thinking back on one of my favorite artworks and f Thinking back on one of my favorite artworks and favorite trips of the year. @jamesprosek’s “Yellowstone Composition No. 1” (2016) at @centerofthewest @codyyellowstone. 
#codywyoming #wyoming #yellowstone #bison #buffalo #salmon #elk #bobcat #mountainlion #snake #birds #eagle #wolf #bighornsheep #coyote #deer #otter #pelican #heron #duck #jamesprosek #moose
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Wyld Gallery Native American Art

Wyld Gallery, Austin, TX

Categories

  • Art in Florida
  • Art in the Midwest
  • Art in the Northeast
  • Art in the South
  • Art in the West
  • Black Artists
  • Blog
  • Canada
  • College Towns
  • Europe
  • Female Artists
  • Imbibing
  • Indigenous Artists
  • New York City art
  • Northeast Fla & Southeast Ga
  • Road Warrior
  • US – Midwest
  • US – South
  • US – West
Privacy Policy | Copyright © 2022 Chadd Scott LLC. All Rights Reserved.