At Bengal Shilpalay, fifteen distinguished Bangladeshi painters come together in “The Long Present,” an exhibition that looks beyond artistic generations to explore how history, memory, and personal experience continue to shape the present. In the works of Hashem Khan, Rafiqun Nabi, Abdus Shakoor Shah, Nazlee Laila Mansur, Farida Zaman, Mohammad Eunus, Jamaluddin Ahmed, Ranjit Das, Ahmed Shamsuddoha, Shishir Bhattacharjee, Kanak Chanpa Chakma, Mohammad Iqbal, Maksuda Iqbal Nipa, Kamal Uddin, and Sahid Kazi, different artistic journeys meet within the same moment.
Inaugurated on 13 June 2026 by Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury MP, Honourable Minister of Finance and Planning, the exhibition brings together artists whose practices have evolved through changing social, cultural, and personal landscapes. Their paintings move across abstraction, realism, surrealism, and expressive forms, yet share an underlying engagement with the passage of time.
Rather than presenting a straightforward history of Bangladeshi painting, the exhibition considers how the past quietly remains within the present. Earlier experiences return through colour, gesture, memory, and visual language, while younger perspectives introduce new tensions and possibilities. The result is a layered meeting of different temporalities, where artistic voices sometimes resonate and sometimes collide.
“The Long Present” remains on view until 4 July 2026, open daily from 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM at the Quamrul Hassan Exhibition Hall, Level 1, Bengal Shilpalay, Dhanmondi, Dhaka. The exhibition offers a thoughtful reflection on how the present is continually shaped, questioned, and renewed through art.
