Since my early age, I have been considering my life as a challenge and as a result, I left my city Dhaka for Europe almost 17 years ago! It happened because my intensive love and responsibilities for my birthplace, strong urge to value self identity and to modify my knowledge in Contemporary World Art. That’s can be said in a word, it is to learn and to experience more on about self and other cultures and it inspired me to leave Bangladesh! I would like to say that an immense thirst for more knowledge and developing my creative, innovative challenges or possibilities in practicing experimental advance painting and prints in the context of European art have brought me down in Europe!

And revisiting Dhaka – the thought kept me occupied through out the years till it happened in 2005! My constant involvement being an active artist in Europe, and partly in America, did not allowed me to make this trip to Dhaka easily, but at one point I made it and surprisingly found my platform again – which was being left behind throughout the years!

Similarly, the thousands miles of distance between Dhaka and Berlin created a new dilemma in my work. The shift of being to be somewhere else in Europe, gave me the very first feeling to be in-between’s, – which definitely helped me to nurture up my views, thoughts and the vision with a transparent understanding of how to look at self and equally to judge other aspects – I wished to look through. They were greatly to deal with whether material and nonmaterial context of human life, nature, or socio-cultural-political-economical and geological aspects – which had to be discoursed, deeply felt, and clarified in me.

Whatsoever, shortly after my last visit to Dhaka, I am to visit Dhaka soon, because I decided to arrange a show at Goethe-Institut in Dhaka. The theme is “Art and Environment”! I think, it is right time to talk on this particular issue in Dhaka right now.

As we see the current environment of Bangladesh, I can say, it is not pleasant, or satisfactory at all. In comparing with my first visit in five years ago in Dhaka, it gave me such an extreme impression of being to be in a chaotic and dirty city than anytime! My questions are now, for example: why is the city awfully dirty and stink almost everywhere, why did these radical changes happen to Dhaka (at least what I felt and experienced personally), where does the ground-issues that caused a terrible calamities exist to keep the city clean, to get the control on traffic system or the fast growing crowds in the city? I think if there is no effort to put and to find out those clues – which are responsible for these current calamities; it can make a sudden and unavoidable collapse in this country at any moment in the future!? It makes me simply frightened!

But what has been haunting me mostly since several years, - is the scarcity of pure drinking water, and lack of enough land for the proper use for people and animal as well. They could be pointed out as burning issues to discourse and to come up with some moderate solution in creating better environment to live further in orderly! For example, what terrible incidents done during the last decades to Buriganga river by Dhaka and its biological death – makes me only cry and infinitely sad; once it’s scenery with fabulous and colourful sailed boats in the past – is today’s matter of sweet dream to have only; or about our pride of Royal Bengal Tiger heritage, how many of them are left? Or are they living securely there in Sundarban today – while the biggest part of this forest has already been destroyed by our ignorance and also in the name of restoration……….!?

How far to go with these miss-happening yet, do we really know at all? Many more questions like these regarding my country’s betterment are hammering my conscience continuously, – so therefore, there should be fair answer given to me or they should be equally clarified to me, as like as to the generations for the next!

With what we have been already confronting with, is important to learn them for the upcoming generations and to live with fewer problems for next hundred of years may be! Bangladesh has repeatedly been alarmed by the environment experts from all over the world, saying that because of the increased global warming a large part of the country to be sinking by the end of this 21st Century!

Are we aware of it at all? Did we do anything to prevent this unwanted disaster in the past? Or any initiation has been taken to act against the annual natural catastrophes? If we don’t care to put enough effort to fight against it, or in other words if we give up all hopes doing nothing, then Bangladesh will be making an unthinkable history on this earth being failed to protect its sovereignty and existence, even being one of the most populated countries with active manpower at the end of this century for ever!

In relation with it, living in a European metropolitan city Berlin, I feel sometimes like a European may be. But truly speaking, I am still a Bangladeshi and my heart will be always for Bangladesh, where I got born and grew up.

My bonding to the roots put a clear influence on my work; even after all these years, they are often overshadowed by its socio-cultural and political themes. Its colour, form, figure, folk-objects, natural beauty and environment imply an interesting blending of the East and West.

It is to mention here that my upcoming show at Dhaka Goethe-Institut in April, there will be showing some of my works, those are to be dealing with the environmental challenges of Bangladesh. They have been produced in last three years.

Hopefully, the viewers will be taking part into this journey with their interest to rediscover the country’s current picture, to review the beauty, and peaceful atmosphere of the past – those were created through my critical eyes in visualising them on different media.

Oppositely, there can be an opportunity to being aware of re-imagining the real and unreal world that exists in Bangladesh, which can be seen or felt particularly right in this exhibition room, I hope.

Murshida Arzu Alpana