The New Nation - Internet Edition

Sheikh Arif Bulbon

“In my choice of subjects, I've taken the life of humans, birds and animals. I deal with hunger, gluttony, irritation, peaceful nature and other emotions in living beings. My lizards, wolves, eagles, butterflies and flowers are all used as symbols. Just as the wolf stands for violence and anger so the butterflies and flowers stand for happiness and goodness," said Joya Shahrin Huq at her solo exhibition titled 'With My Imagination' at Shilpangan Gallery in the capital.

The exhibition was ended recently. She completed her masters in printmaking from Baroda in India. Now she is working as part time faculty at the Institute of Fine Arts of Dhaka University.

Joya went into printmaking, as she wanted to do something different from the usual routine of oils, brushes and easels, as she puts it. Learning from her teacher artists Safiuddin Ahmed and Mohammed Kibria, she has used mostly black, grey and sepia.

She said, "I like black and white prints and find the combination rich. Black and white prints go back to classical days of Rembrandt, Durer and Goya."

In the show, in one of her series she used chairs of different shapes and sizes, symbolising power. She combined them with images of playful, black cats.

While replying about the work she said, "All around us we see the struggle for power, whether it be the nation's politics or the fight between a mother in-law and the daughter in-law."

Some of her works had used photo-transfer on to zinc plates, when she made compositions with portraits of her friends in her student days in Baroda.

But on the other times, she made a sketch before she goes to make the print. She tried to bring in her surroundings along with some elements of her imagination.

While visiting the gallery this correspondent found that her portrait was in the centre. On one side was a large, fleshy water lily, with a 'Borak,' (a creature with legs of a horse, wings of an eagle and head of a woman) at the other end. The 'Borak' was to lend a spiritual flavour and the portrait was to provide a personal touch.

In another print work, a seated woman with the backdrop of large, exotic flowers was found.

Lizards, shadows, and circles standing for life decorated a seated nude were in the next work. This too was in black, white and sepia. The wolf was brought in many of the pieces, and it stood for strength.