RU artist says removed artwork did not place 2024 above 1971
After an artwork displayed at a Rajshahi University (RU) exhibition marking the July Uprising was removed, its artist, Dipto Dipon Debnath, said he had never intended to portray the 2024 uprising as more significant than the 1971 Liberation War.
Rather, he said, the artwork was intended to criticise those who, for their own interests, seek to portray 2024 as more significant than 1971.
Dipto is a student of RU’s Graphic Design Discipline from the 2020-21 academic session.
Speaking to The Daily Star, he said the weighing scale in the artwork was not intended to represent an actual device for measuring weight. Rather, it symbolised a group that opposed the Liberation War. The artwork sought to depict how that group attempts to portray 2024 as more significant than 1971 to serve its own interests, he said.
Explaining the artwork, he said it depicts a hand holding a weighing scale, with “71” on one side and “24” on the other. The side marked “24” hangs lower, but he said viewing that element alone could lead to a different interpretation of the work’s intended message.
He said a closer look shows that the side marked “71” contains only the number itself, while pieces of brick and stone have been placed on the side marked “24”. This, he said, was intended to show that additional weight had been deliberately added to the “24” side to serve a particular interest.
A three-day art exhibition, titled “July Mass Uprising: Free Homeland Through Colours and Brushes”, began at RU yesterday. Organised by the university administration, the exhibition sparked discussions and criticism on social media after the artwork was displayed. Many alleged that the artwork gave greater importance to the July Uprising of 2024 than to the 1971 Liberation War.
Amid the criticism, the university administration removed the artwork from the exhibition this morning and sought an explanation from Dipto.
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