Bishwajit Goswami (b. 1981)

Bishwajit is a Bangladeshi artist and educator. He is a lecturer at the Drawing & Painting Department of the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Over the last few years, Bishwajit has been experimenting with various spaces and subjects in his artwork. His extensive interest in art has led him to direct a handful of projects during this time.

An artist is in constant pursuit of portraying himself in various forms through art. The Quest for Life, Quest for Soul, Soul for the soul, and Metamorphosis series are significant precedents of this in Bishwajit’s case. Idea, concept, and approach of representation of artworks change over time, through emotion and experiences.

Diversity in nature inspires Bishwajit to test different mediums and styles of picture making. In 2016, he was invited as part of an Academic Visiting Program to the Yunnan Arts University, China. In 2017, he took part in “Murau at Alte Apotheke”, an Artist Residency in Austria. He has actively participated in a significant number of important residencies in Bangladesh and Overseas since.

Bishwajit introduced himself as a successful curator for his commendable project ‘Bindu-Bisorga’ in the 18^th Asian Art Biennale Bangladesh; and ‘Immensity’- a month-long, site-specific art project in Lama, Bangladesh. In both projects, artists from different disciplines, and different parts of the country, were brought together to exchange knowledge, concepts, skills, and craft.

Goswami is the founder of Brihatta, a research-based, artist-run Platform, with a strong focus on community development, and collaboration amongst the youth. It possesses a collective spirit, which enables participants to examine an alternative understanding of their practice. Artistic freedom is nurtured in this space, as one gains clarity of self, by engaging in creative dialogue and mentorship.

Bishwajit has exhibited in several international forums, such as the Dhaka Art Summit (2016, 14, 12); the Asian Art Biennale of Bangladesh (2014, 12, 10, 08); the Beijing International Art Biennale (15, 12); the Setouchi Triennial Japan 2013. And his major solo show was held in 2015 “In Motion” a Solo Show at Bengal Art Lounge, Dhaka, Bangladesh; 2016 “Gaea” a solo show at Yunnan Arts University, China; 2017 solo show at Rathaus, Murau, Austria.

The artist has received several accolades over the years, including being a recipient of the 16^th Asian Art Biennale (Bangladesh); the National Young Artist Award (2012, 10, 08). His work has been included in the Bangladesh National Art Biennale of (2011, 2009). He is also a recipient of the Elisabeth Greenshields Foundation award (2009, 2011).

/Bipul Mallick

“Traveling with mother”

A quest for life directs this contemporary artist’s journey; that journey took him to the door of glory.  Bishwajit’s thirst of art making recalled the concepts- ‘Mother’, ‘Earth’ and ‘Human’ Repeatedly.

MA-a sound, a concept – there is no expectation, only omnibenevolence. When Bishwajit visted  China for a third time, for an art project in 2015, his wife was expecting; distance made him contemplate about his wife and baby. He started to ruminate, “is my mother also missing me in the same way? How I’m missing…” the beautiful universal thought insisted him and provided energy to make a journey with an art project named ‘Travelling with Mother’.

He used an iconography “MA” for this art project that was made by a traditional rickshaw painter from Bangladesh. In this project, he performed with general people in different cultures and geographical areas publicly. In the same way, He introduced Bengali sound “MA” as an Art form to the different parts of the world. The people who have the same feeling about their mother or motherhood, they were the part of this work. “Traveling with Mother”, conveyed universal emotions of the global citizens.

“Ma Mati Manush Bhasha Swadesh Prokriti”

In his art making, Bishwajit accepted as true, “this is more important for him, how he is belonging; what he is; what he can see; what he imagines and is continuously watching, listening …rather than imitating any images…”

He has been working for a few years with font, text, typography, and calligraphy in different contemporary approaches. Sometimes he is using traditional natural ink, pigment for writing, making calligraphy. Other times, he is using neon light lettering against art-object, where neon itself becomes artwork.

In this project, Bishwajit performed with a universal notion of life; where the innate Bengali female portrait is cast as a surface of his artwork, and characters carry different concepts of spirit. Bengali women’s portrait and Bengali writing on the face represented the artwork itself as a statue of spirituality. The movements and connection among the portraits created the visual oomph and vivacity on the artwork.

The artist played here six interconnected characters - “মা -Ma (Mother), মাটি-Mati (earth), মানুষ-Manush (people), ভাষা-Bhasha (Language), স্বদেশ-Swadesh (Motherland) and প্রকৃতি-Prokriti (Nature) for this artwork. The artworks denoted too, how a conceptual spirit transformed and devoted one to another, with constructing connections.

He attempts to portray the universal situation of society through the six forms, where artist signifies the sense of spirituality; Eyes are expressive, symbolic and represent perception.

Bishwajit wisely depicts the connection between one concept to another on video, where movement executes direction amongst conceptual dialogues.

/Bipul Mallick