JAAGO Foundation is delighted to participate in this year’s Dhaka Art Summit (DAS), which will be held from 3rd to 11th February 2023. DAS offers an exhibition platform for artists and focuses on art relating to South Asia. It was founded in 2012 by the Samdani Art Foundation. The Foundation has consistently supported JAAGO Foundation through thick and thin. DAS has had a 3-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so it has had time to recharge and reinvent itself. In many ways, art is a reflection of our worldviews, and it will be exciting to see how the vast global shift caused by the pandemic will be represented at DAS this year.
The Samdani Art Foundation was founded in 2011 by collector couple Nadia and Rajeeb Samdani to increase the global exposure of Bangladeshi artists and architects. Through their program Art at the Round Table, creatives all over Bangladesh come together around literal and figurative tables to conceptualise pieces of art designed to capture peoples’ imaginations. In exchange for this, those involved generously donate food items to our JAAGO Foundation Schools. We are grateful to the Foundation for this partnership and are honoured to be given the opportunity to showcase our students’ hard work at DAS this year.
DAS has a different theme each year. This year’s theme is Bonna, the Bangla word for ‘flood’ and a common girls’ name, though Bonna is so much more than just a word of a name. It crosses the boundaries of necessity and excess, male and female. It symbolises hope and fertility for farmers after the dry season. Floods are something every human has experienced, whether physical or metaphorical. The art at DAS this year will represent Bonna in a variety of different forms and mediums, all of which will offer different perspectives to the viewer.
The students at the JAAGO Foundation Schools have been working hard to create jewellery to sell at this year’s DAS. Each piece of jewellery has been lovingly hand-crafted and is a representation of the dedication and hard work of our students. Art offers a tributary for the creativity of our students to trickle down, the result of which is beautiful jewellery which you will be able to buy at our stall either as a gift for someone special or a treat for yourself. Each purchase brings us closer towards our mission of offering children around Bangladesh opportunities to lift themselves from the cycle of poverty.
We hope to see you there!