Farooki laments ink vandalism of Shilpakala mural amid debate over foreign artists

Filmmaker and former interim government cultural adviser Mostafa Sarwar Farooki has lamented the splashing of ink on a mural opposite Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy.

He said the act disrupted a constructive public debate over the use of state funds to promote foreign cultural figures.

In a statement on his verified Facebook page, Farooki said the controversy surrounding portraits of West Bengal cultural personalities alongside Bangladeshi figures had sparked important questions about the responsibilities of state institutions.

But the discussion was abruptly overshadowed by the defacement of the mural.

"Just as this healthy debate was taking place, someone suddenly appeared from the shadows and splashed ink all over it," Farooki wrote.

He said the debate had been both interesting and constructive, with Bratya Raisu, Shafiqul Alam, Zulkarnain Saer and others raising questions about the proper scope of state activities and public expenditure.

At the heart of the controversy was whether a state institution should spend taxpayers' money celebrating artists and cultural figures from another country.

"Promoting artists from West Bengal is not the responsibility of the Dhaka City Corporation. Likewise, promoting Bangladeshi artists is not the responsibility of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation," Farooki said.

He argued that state institutions have clearly defined responsibilities and must operate within those boundaries.

Farooki, however, distinguished between promoting foreign personalities and celebrating artistic achievements through a broader cultural concept.

A mural featuring the world's greatest filmmakers, for instance, could include Satyajit Ray alongside Steven Spielberg and Abbas Kiarostami, he said.

"That would have been an entirely different concept."

He also noted that few had questioned the inclusion of Rabindranath Tagore on the wall.

Farooki suggested this reflected Tagore's place within Bangladesh's cultural identity, shaped partly by the establishment of Chhayanaut in 1961 and the subsequent institutional development of Rabindra Sangeet.

He said individuals and private organisations were free to admire, celebrate or depict artists from anywhere in the world.

State institutions, however, must consider their mandates, responsibilities and the justification for spending public money on such initiatives, he said adding that the whole debate offered valuable lessons for the government and city authorities.

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