New Age | I depict depression in my artworks: Kingshuk Das

Chattogram-based freelance visual artist Kingshuk Das Chowdhury said that depression led to self-violence and he attempted to depict reasons for self-violence in his eighth solo exhibition titled ‘Violence/ Violation’ under way at the Dwip Gallery in Lalmatia in the capital.

Kingshuk, who completed his MFA in printmaking from fine arts department of Chittagong University, has displayed 80 paintings, created between 2017 and 2024, using diverse mediums, including acrylic, watercolour, pencil and pen, in the twelve-day exhibition, which has been curated by artist, art critic and curator Mustafa Zaman.

The painter has translated his felt-body in the face of the rise of sectarian violence, religious intolerance and political mayhem. The paintings comprise human figures and human body parts.

‘A person often resorts to self-violence due to several reasons, including financial, political, religious and others. I often feel pressured due to various reasons. I try to depict my understanding of depression, violence and violation in my artworks,’ said Kingshuk, who grew up in Chattogram and now spends his days in the port city of Bangladesh and Kolkata, India where his wife has been receiving treatment for cancer over the past couple of years.

‘I keep myself busy doing yoga, dance and exercise. I depict my frustrations, personal and socio-political issues through my artwork,’ added Kingshuk, who also created artworks using smoke, tea and others.

‘The curator of the exhibition Mustafa Zaman inspired me to display my recent artworks. I am busy due to my wife’s treatment. The curator played an important role in making this exhibition a reality,’ ended Kingshuk.

The 80 paintings displayed at the exhibition have been marked with numbers and the curator has displayed two white fabrics comprising drawings related to identity politics, body politics and minority crisis in a less inclusive and less democratic social space.

‘As an artist, he could not give himself up to the sensuous aspect of painting and drawing. The bodies that seem to speak to and about the state of the body politic, could not be crafted, staged, and composed dodging the notion of abjection. It is only by breaking up the unity of the body – both the physical body and body that is a picture plane – that this 50-plus artist has been able to create images that act as an agent for social protest. Or, to put another way, the works react to the current social-political order to insert into the social-aesthetic space some antagonistic forms to raise the voice and break the silence,’ said Mustafa Zaman.

‘The violation of the body may thus give way to volition or will to rescue the body that previously seemed forever stuck in the mire,’ ended Mustafa Zaman, the curator of the exhibition.

The exhibition, which was inaugurated on May 1, will end today with a discussion participated by Mustafa Zaman and artist Kingshuk Das Chowdhury in the evening.