Catalogue > At random

Built during British colonial rule in 1930, the Kalurghat Bridge serves as a vital connection between the north and south of the greater Chittagong district of Bangladesh, bisected by the Karnaphuli River. Historically, this bridge facilitated communication between regions in south Chittagong, bridging the gap from British India. From the circle of my family ancestors, many left the southern part of Chittagong from the British period, particularly the partition period, to the Pakistan period and settled in different parts of this subcontinent. Then, during the liberation war of Bangladesh in 1971, some people in Bangladesh-India border areas took shelter for some time and worked in various ways for the freedom of the country. From the post-independence period to the present, many people from this southern region migrated to other countries outside the subcontinent for different purposes and reasons, including re-settlement in Chittagong City and Dhaka. These familial and local stories are not linear. Through different layered images on the bridge, the video features a female narrator, embodying the collective familial past. The narrative within the video is a fictionalised merge drawn from different stories and correspondences, further exploring familial history and connection.

Palash Bhattachajee has undergone a shift in his artistic journey, transitioning from academically focused printmaking toward multi-media, experimental art-practice via a close encounter with performance art activism. He takes critical interest in closely reading filmic genres and their performative idioms. The photo/videographic style and the eclectic selection of objects in his works are influenced by the cerebral matrix of contrapuntal, non-narrative aspect of deconstructed storytelling adopted from global cinema. Based and born in Chittagong, Bangladesh, he received his Master’s and Bachelor's degrees from the Department of Fine Arts, Chittagong University. He was awarded the Asia Pacific Fellowship Residency from MMCA Residency Goyang in 2011 and received a grant from Seoksu Art Project of Stone & Water, South Korea, in 2010. His works have been widely exhibited in Bangladesh, including at Chobi Mela 2021, Dhaka Art Summit 2012-2020, Asian Art Biennale 2012-2022, Dhaka, and internationally, including ‘Legacies of Crossings’, Shahnaz Gallery, London, UK 2024; NOmade Biennial, Art Center Gallery Elblag, Poland, 2023; Warehouse421, Abu Dhabi, UAE, 2022; Colomboscope, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 2022; ‘The Oceans and the Interpreters’ and ‘The Deep City’, Hong-Gah Museum, Taiwan, 2020; ‘Seven Exhibitions’ at Exhibit 320, New Delhi, India, 2018; and many more.