Farzana Ahmed Urmi, a renowned artist, delves into the profound concept of death in her recent solo exhibition titled “Witnessing to My Own Absence” at Kalakendra in Dhaka. Through her artwork, Urmi poignantly explores the perpetual presence of death in our lives, prompting viewers to contemplate the delicate balance between existence, loss, and memory.
Urmi’s paintings skillfully blur the lines between the physical and the emotional, with faces depicted not merely as anatomical features but as vessels of profound psychic depth. Drawing inspiration from the likes of Kerry James Marshall and Joan Mitchell, Urmi infuses her work with a unique perspective, rooted in the Bangladeshi context where the portrayal of women’s bodies carries nuanced implications of visibility, intimacy, and societal norms.
The exhibition showcases Urmi’s dynamic brushwork, where thick layers of paint create textured landscapes of emotion. Faces in her artwork seem to dissolve into the canvas, leaving behind a haunting gaze that beckons viewers into a contemplative dialogue between movement and observation. Through her visual language, Urmi strikes a delicate equilibrium between presence and absence, inviting viewers to reflect on the complexities of human experience.
Titled “Witnessing to My Own Absence,” the exhibition serves as both a personal confession and a societal critique. Urmi’s journey as a female artist in Dhaka’s art scene is highlighted, shedding light on the challenges faced by women artists in navigating a landscape where recognition often outpaces tangible support. Her portraits not only serve as reflections of her own emotional landscape but also as testaments to the resilience required to sustain an artistic practice within a culturally fragile environment.
At its core, the exhibition emphasizes the political potency of emotion, with themes of rage, longing, and vulnerability interwoven throughout the canvases. Rather than offering definitive narratives, Urmi’s artwork constructs a nuanced tapestry of feeling, drawing from personal experiences and layered expressions. Portraying more than mere identities, her portraits illuminate the interconnectedness of history, memory, and the act of witnessing through painting.
“Witnessing to My Own Absence” is a compelling exhibition currently showcased at Kalakendra, Dhaka, curated by Wakilur Rahman, and will be open to the public from February 6 to March 2, 2026. Tara Asgar, a Bangladeshi writer and interdisciplinary artist based in New York, offers critical insights into the exhibition, exploring themes of migration, gender, and visibility in contemporary art and social discourse.