MAJHI INTERNATIONAL ART RESIDENCY 2023 | Durjoy Bangladesh Foundation

Aiko Tezuka, Loosening Fabric #2, 2013. Photo by Jens Steingässer

Raisa Kabir _Amar Desh....আমার দেশ. My country. My home. My land. My diaspora. My Motherland is a memory of unwoven dreams Weaving detail 2017

Rajyashri Goody_photo credit by Verena Blok

Participating artists : Raisa Kabir, Aiko Tezuka, Rajyashri Goody

Guest curator: Ricko Leung

The Majhi International Art Residency Programme represents a visionary decade-long initiative by Durjoy Bangladesh Foundation (DBF). Its overarching mission is to provide a robust international platform for artists, fostering creative connections and facilitating cultural exchanges between the East and the West.

Majhi — a word deeply rooted in the cultural fabric of Bangladesh — the ubiquitous boatman, navigates the mighty Padma River, ferrying souls from one bank to another, often in solitude, battling against the tide. In much the same way, the Majhi International Art Residency Programme seeks to bridge divides and connect individuals, creating a vibrant channel for exchange and dialogue between artists and professionals from diverse corners of the world and the thriving South Asian art scene. The Majhi International Art Residency, born from the concept of a residency migrating throughout Europe, is arriving in the heart of Paris this year after successfully engaging the art scenes of Venice, Berlin, and Eindhoven since its inception in 2019.

During the residency from 7 to 23 October in Paris, the three selected artists from Asia and Asian diaspora have been commissioned to create new and unique artworks, responding to the curatorial theme of indigo and textile, echoing one of the focuses of Asia Now this year. The artworks will be exhibited together at the end of the residency in a curated group exhibition titled “Between Plant and Thread, Blue and Purple”, as one of the Special Projects in Asia Now.

Durjoy Bangladesh Foundation

Durjoy Bangladesh Foundation (DBF) is a non-profit private foundation established by Durjoy Rahman in 2018, with a mission to support and promote art from South Asia and beyond in a critical, international art context. Its projects and programming cultivate and present rigorous artistic and socially responsible practices through exhibitions, commissions, residencies, community engagement programmes and publications, with the aim of developing new dialogues, narratives and interconnections between home-based and diaspora South Asian artists and the international cultural community.

These goals are strengthened by fruitful synergies with cross-platform cultural Partners globally, including educational and governmental institutions, museums, foundations and non-profits, art fairs and art festivals, community platforms and charities.