Bengal Arts Programme is pleased to invite you to Unraveling Silence, an exhibition of works by Yasmin Jahan Nupur, curated by Tanzim Wahab.
The exhibition will be inaugurated by Professor Abul Monsur and Architect Marina Tabassum at 5:00 PM on Friday, 10 October 2025, at Bengal Shilpalay.
Yasmin Jahan Nupur’s soft sculptures and multi-sensory installations draw on her deep engagement with architecture, landscape, displacement, personal histories, and textiles—particularly Jamdani, the fine handwoven muslin of Bangladesh. Intimacy and human connection remain central to her practice, as she explores the complex interplay of sensory elements and spatial environments.

Quamrul Hassan Exhibition Hall
Bengal Shilpalay, Level 1, House 42, Road 16 (old 27), Dhanmondi, Dhaka 1209
The exhibition is on view until 22 November, everyday 4 to 8 PM, except Sundays.

Artist’s Note
Textiles have always surrounded me — from embroidered quilts and crocheted covers to the legendary tales of muslin and Jamdani. What once seemed ordinary now reveals itself as a living archive, carrying layered histories of labour, love, resistance, and survival. My artistic engagement with fabric began as I closely observed Jamdani looms. I was drawn to the rhythm of warp and weft, and to the wider political, economic, and gendered forces that determine whether such traditions endure.
In my practice, textiles are both medium and metaphor. Stitching, weaving, and mending embody perseverance and tenderness, while the woven grid becomes a site where form, feeling, and thought intersect. Often dismissed as “craft,” fabric here is reclaimed as a space of presence, protest, and power.
Fragments of stitched text echo domestic wall hangings, but they now address broken social structures, resilient bodies, and the tensions between survival and grief. Across these works, I seek to render the unseen as a slow, insistent presence — every thread a memory, a trace, a refusal to disappear.
– Yasmin Jahan Nupur

Biography
Yasmin Jahan Nupur
b. 1979, Chattogram, Bangladesh

Yasmin Jahan Nupur is a visual and performance artist whose practice is shaped by ecological concerns and community-driven experiences. Her work examines human relationships from multiple perspectives, often exploring class divisions and social disparities faced by women and migrants in South Asia, with the aim of fostering dialogue and understanding across different backgrounds.
In recent years, her practice has engaged deeply with architecture, landscape, displacement, and textiles—particularly Jamdani, the fine handwoven muslin of Bangladesh—through which she creates soft sculptures and multi-sensory installations. Intimacy and human connection remain central to her work, as she explores the interplay of sensory elements and spatial environments to heighten emotional ties between individuals and communities. Her research draws on objects, emotional facts, personal histories, and lived stories, expressed through performance, textile-based works, and interactive installations.
Nupur is the co-founder of Vukhanda Artist Space and a member of Britto Arts Trust, Bangladesh. She lives and works in Narayanganj, and is represented by Exhibit320 Gallery, New Delhi.
Her work has been exhibited widely in international platforms. Recent exhibitions include Desh-Pardesh (2025), curated by Myna Mukherjee at Travancore Palace, New Delhi; Shared Worlds: 15 Years of Exhibit320 (2025), curated by Deeksha Nath at Bikaner House, New Delhi; A Flying Seed and a Bird Named Hiramon (2023), long-duration performative storytelling curated by Tanzim Wahab at Spore Initiative, Berlin; Let Me Get You a Nice Cup of Tea (2019–20), developed during a residency at the Peabody Essex Museum (in collaboration with Dhaka Art Summit) and later acquired by Tate in 2020, Tate Modern, London; Contemporary Art from South Asia (2022–23), curated by HH Goa at Fondazione Elpis, Milan; Rehang (2021), curated by Uthra Rajgopal at Bikaner House, New Delhi; Chobi Mela (2021); A Trifecta of Movement (2021), Exhibit320, New Delhi; Films Like No Other (2020), Croatia; Frieze London (2020), curated by Diana Campbell; Homeland (2019–20), Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge, curated by Devika Singh; Cosmopolis #1.5: Enlarged Intelligence (2018), Mao Jihong Arts Foundation, Hong Kong; Unleashing (2018), Columbia University, New York; Beyond Borders (2017), Whitworth Art Gallery, University of Manchester; and The Performance Pavilion (2016), Dhaka Art Summit. She has participated in multiple editions of the Dhaka Art Summit (2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020, 2023).
Residencies include: Lucas Artist Residency at Montalvo Arts Center, California (2019); Peabody Essex Museum Residency, Boston (2019); and Performance as Process, Delfina Foundation, London (2015).
Nupur is the recipient of the Grand Prize at the Asian Art Biennale (2022), Honourable Mention Awards at the Asian Art Biennale (2008 and 2013), and the Honorary Award at the National Fine Arts Exhibition (2010), Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy.
Collections: Tate Modern, London; Whitworth Art Gallery, University of Manchester; Samdani Art Foundation, Dhaka; Durjoy Bangladesh Foundation; Bengal Foundation; as well as numerous private collections worldwide.