Seeds Shall Set Us Free

25 Feb - 31 March 2023 | 11am - 7pm
Gallery MCube
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In the context of the fraught history of rice cultivation and distribution in Bangladesh, Wasif juxtaposes his cyanotypes of rice grains and plants with archive documents and photographs from one of the largest community grain banks in the country. In Bangladesh rice production was curtailed by Indigo and Jute cultivation imposed for the world market by the British colonial system. For this work the artist collaborated with the research-based organisation UBINIG, founded by a group of activists in 1984 to support the new Naya Krishi Andolan agricultural movement, which currently includes more than 100,000 farming families. This movement promotes local and non-chemical agriculture and indigenous agricultural knowledge to protect biodiversity and workers’ well-being.