Time could not be kept at bay

During this epidemic, I have become more sensitive. When I received news of someone’s illness or death, I would feel fear and pain, I would have difficulty breathing. The silence all around me seemed that I was living in another world. I feel that only I and my time are frozen, but for everyone else, time flows. These times are uninterrupted and full of bitter experiences. When it comes to describing the times I live now, the past and the future seem to come together. I see the days go through very fast, within the blink of an eye. I began to realise the existence of everything — time, sound, space, behaviour etc. I know why I began to look very closely at every object in the house, the loom, and the yarn which are lying on the ground, the cleaning items, the vase, flower, and even the activities of my daughter. Not that I had not seen these before or I had not had contact with these objects. At the same time, all my attention is focused on language, sentences, poems, prose, and reminiscences. After a long time, I have started writing, with each writing the sequence or scenes come up in front of me. I have just converted the sequences into images, like a still poem or a moving image.

Yasmin Jahan Nupur was born in Chittagong in 1979. At present, her place of work is Narayanganj district in Dhaka division. Yasmin is a visual and performance artist whose work is influenced by the ecological and community driven aspects of life. Depicting human relationships from various points of view, her work explores class distinctions and the social discrepancies people face, particularly women and migrants of South Asia, in an effort to increase understanding between people of different backgrounds. Her recent work has engaged deeply with architecture, landscape shifting/displacement, and textile, especially focusing on Jamdani (handwoven textile) making soft sculpture, and an idea of physical and social constructs affecting her psyche. She delves deep through researching into every subject that she works on. Her work has featured in exhibitions internationally, including: Lucas Artists residency at Montalvo Arts Center (May-July) CA, USA, Sponsor by Art Forum. 2019 Peabody Essex Museum residency and research, Boston, USA (August), 2019 Frieze performance in London, curated by Diana Campbell. In 2015, she was selected for a performance residency at the Delfina Foundation in London (Performance as a process). Cosmopolis #1.5: Enlarged Intelligence, Mao Jihong Arts Foundation in collaboration with the Centre Pompidou (2018-1019). Beyond Borders, Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester (2017-2018); the Serendipity Arts Festival, Goa (2016); the Dhaka Art Summit (2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020); the Bangladesh Pavilion, 54th Venice Biennale (2013); and the Asian Art Biennale, Dhaka (2013, 2008), receiving the Honourable Mention Award for her inclusion in both editions. Her recent body of work is being shown at Exhibit320 gallery in Delhi (2018), titled ‘Patterns of a Tactile Score.’