Uttarsury

All photos on this page have been taken by Imtiaz Alam Beg except box numbers 3, 4,5, 6 which were taken by Farhan Sajjad.

“765” Mixed Media wall art on 765 Satmasjid Road

Note from the artist

“Uttarsury” means successor. As the word implies, this is a project about my family and naturally, a very personal and special collaborative initiative. “Uttarsury” now is a cultural center in memory of my grandparents, the Late Noorjehan Murshid (politician and social activist) and Late Khan Sarwar Murshid (Professor of English Literature, Dhaka University) . The institution is working to remember and archive the ideals of the Bangladeshi liberation war based on which the country was supposed to stand. Through interviews, photographic archives and documentation, the institution brings together the progressive thoughts of the youth of the 50’s and 60’s that demanded a country that thrived on values of togetherness and securlarism. In the year 2022, an old residential house in Dhanmondi was transformed to this cultural centre and started out to become a knowledge hub for the young generation from where they can develop a full consciousness of where they come from. 

This old residential house was the house my grandparents lived in and it was built by the renowned architect Mazharul Islam. This was a house where many cultural activists, artists and politicians once came together to discuss matters of the country’s discourse and had become a place of enlightened thinking. In years to come, the home my mother grew up in also became a house I frequented and my cousins grew up in. Many stories of love and loss happened within its walls.

Alas, this historical site was scheduled to be torn down in 2023. In lieu of such an event, my mother and her firm Brotee, in collaboration with Photographer Imtiaz Alam Beg and Artist and Curator Mustafa Zaman and myself got together to host and curate a year long program and exhibition celebrating my grandparents legacy and all those who participated in bringing forth Bengali progressive values for a new Bangladesh, and making them accessible to the youth of today. We need to know what were our values supposed to be if we are to stand proudly in creating a new and improved Bangladesh.

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My role in this collaboration was of Resident artist and co-curator; I created two mixed media installations for the exhibition – one in memory of my granparents and one in memory of my cousin Shabab Murshid who passed away at the tender age of fifteen, with whom I spent the most of my childhood years playing in this house.

I was in charge to recreate my grandparents’ rooms with their furniture and art, as I remembered it from my childhood. Furthermore, I curated several events bringing in children to adorn the walls of the house with their heartfelt art and artists, junior and seniors who came together to create grafitti and stories on the walls of the premise. I also organized the farewell event bringing in young musicians and fire artists to thank and bid farewell to our long standing home.

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The story does not end here. In 2023, when the house was torn down, our little original crew got together again to bring artists together to perform in the ruins of our building which resulted in a small collection of mesmerising documentarian photographs taken by Imtiaz Alam Beg that haunts me still today.

This page pays homage to this year long project that brought together so many sentiments of the young and old and presented a beautifully orchestrated story for all generations to participate in and continue on.