Bangladeshi artists gain ‘world-first’ platform at Oxford’s Ashmolean museum

A new partnership is set to spotlight Bangladeshi art at the world’s oldest free-to-enter public museum.

The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford said it would team up with the Samdani Art Foundation to highlight work from Bangladesh.

The University of Oxford institution said the project was the first “sustained initiative” supporting Bangladeshi artists at any major museum across the globe.

As part of the new scheme, a visiting artist will be invited to Oxford each year, according to BBC, while a dedicated collection of Bangladeshi art will also be curated. The first of those visiting artists, Munem Wasif, arrived in Oxford from Dhaka earlier this month.

Explaining his previous work, he said much of it “returned to the colonial history” of Bengal — a region shared by modern-day India and Bangladesh.

He said visiting the Ashmolean “gives me a chance to look at this history more closely, through the Museum’s collections and archives”.

“I’m interested in encountering objects and artworks firsthand, and seeing how they might connect with questions I have been exploring through photography, prints, and textiles,” he added.

Alongside the visiting artist programme, the Ashmolean — which was the world’s first free public museum when it opened in 1683 — will also develop a collection of contemporary Bangladeshi art.

Mallica Kumbera Landrus, curator of Indian, Himalayan and Southeast Asian art at the museum, said she was “thrilled” about the new partnership.

“The Museum has remarkable collections from across South Asia, and this partnership gives us an exciting opportunity to develop that story through contemporary Bangladeshi art and artists,” she said.

Founded in 2011, the Samdani Art Foundation works with artists, architects, curators and writers to share Bangladeshi culture.

Its co-founder and president, Nadia Samdani, said its partnership with the museum was a “natural extension” of the foundation’s vision “to create lasting cultural bridges between Bangladesh and the world”.

“We are proud to see this vision take shape at a world-leading institution, and deeply grateful to the Ashmolean for joining us in making it possible,” she added.