Shahabuddin Ahmed, a celebrated Bangladeshi artist and a former Muktiyodha, showcases human suffering through his work Shanti. By Ankita Jain
With the help of bamboos and trees under torch lights, Shahabuddin Ahmed held an exhibition in the forest with portraits of Sheikh Mujibur Rehman and scenes of other muktiyodhas (freedom fighters) in the early 1970s. Then he was a 22-year-old platoon commander fighting for Bangladesh’s liberation War. “It wasn’t my first exhibition but it made everyone aware that I was more into paintings than being a warrior. Eventually I left everything and joined an art school,” Shahabuddin said. He further added, “Since childhood I loved paintings but due to my family’s inclination towards politics and the situations during those times, I was pushed towards war.”
After gaining worldwide recognition for his works and a stint in Paris, 46 years later, he held a solo exhibition titled Shanti (Peace) at Rashtrapati Bhavan. “The exhibition was first held in 2015 at the Ganges Art Gallery, Kolkata in the presence of President Pranab Mukherjee. He then invited me to Delhi for another round,” he said.
Reflecting on the theme Shanti, the artist explained, “I have seen a lot of disturbance during 1971. The concept of my exhibition draws from my inspirations like Bangabandhu (Mujib), Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore, who never wanted bloodshed.” He has also very successfully highlighted through his works the pathos of war and the struggle of the people of the sub-continent and the freedom movement of India and Bangladesh.
Other than paintings of Bangabandhu, Gandhi and Tagore, the exhibition, which displays over 12 of his masterpieces, includes titles like liberate, War Cry, Bijoy, Platoon, Freedom, Wounded and Exhilaration are very much influenced from his experiences. Also with great erudition and skill, he relies heavily on the power of motion as his mode of artistic expression. His endeavour to unravel the mysteries of the cosmos through the use of colour — most often monochromatic with splashes of brightness — canvas and brush has perfectly blended sadness and hope.
Shahabuddin admits that though the war has guided him, contrary to what many believe, “I don’t paint war and war is in no way my creed. What I want to depict is human suffering in different postures, borderline situations in which the individual has to reach his limits.”
Full of anecdotes on the Bangladesh liberation War and his years of struggle in Paris till 1980, Shahabuddin, who still holds a Bangladeshi passport, said that Paris allowed to do whatever he wanted to. “I was honoured with Chevalier de l’order des Arts des letters (Knight in the order of Art and literature) Paris, France in 2014. There are a lot of things to draw inspiration from and I looked at the West because it provided me freedom to work which my own country lacked.”