Going about our lives in our one-dimensional societies we fail to recognize the junkyard we live in. Not merely a physical junkyard but an ethical one, a moral one. An emotional junkyard. The launching edition of the ghartera exhibitions, these artists attempt to deal with or navigate through things, ideas, & perspectives they feel should be questioned or reconstructed. By seeking to question the preestablished norms, & values we hope to raise a narrative of our own that would make the audience reassess the way they see or want to see art in a given space. Coming out of the conventionality of defining art, and questioning the tendency of relating art to the sense of harmony, & appeal the audience is welcome to engage with artworks themselves. And In the process try to create a sense of aesthetic value of their own.

— Kazi Tahsin Agaz Apurbo

About Ghartera

Ghartera is an ever emerging and transmuting art space, collaborating groups of artists trying to act as a resistance, and creating alternatives to the established, mainstream narratives, and ideas. In a series of exhibitions we attempt to question the considerable amount of things in our cultural responses that have become normative. Breaking out of the mainstream, normative spaces like big galleries, Ghartera questions the tendency of viewing art as an object of supremacy. And build up a practice of exploring, and navigating both public and private spaces where artists won’t have to face the unwarranted obstacles of censorship or prohibition. In the course of actions we also examine the inclination of defining “high art”; the very tradition of the mainstream spaces of not promoting what they don’t consider to be of aesthetic value. We believe that the propensity of segregating art and politics, individual and the cultural context should be questioned. That’s why Ghartera wants to create pockets of safe spaces where artists can show their work as it is, no matter how political or aggravating it may be. Also examine the narratives, and ideas imposed upon the subaltern people. And ultimately (re)construct a narrative of our own.

Artists

Mosfiqur Rahman Johan, Navid Nooren, Aabir Khalid, Ankur Sinha, Ata Islam Khan Mojlis, Inan Anjum Sibun, Tanvir Alim, Ananda Antahleen, Ayreen Khan, Taiara Farhana Tareque, and Kazi Tahsin Agaz Apurbo