KANAK - An Artist with a Difference
by Satyawati Hanna Nurari
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I have known Kanak Chanpa Chakma since April 2002, when she and her husband conducted an exhibition and charity auction of their paintings at the Dutch Club. The purpose was to raise money for someone from Rangamati who needed a kidney operation. Since then I have become great friends with this artist couple.
Kanak was born in 1963 in the Rangamati Hill Tracts, in a small town named Tabal Chari, a remote hill area. It is surrounded by Lake Karnaphuly and the people live in the upper part of the hills. Her father is a retired businessman and her mother is a textile designer and weaver who has twice won national awards for her work.
Kanak has Masters in Fine Arts from Dhaka University. She also studied at Penn State University in the US. She has held many exhibitions in Europe, USA, Canada, Japan, Korea, China, India, Nepal and Bangladesh.
Kanak is married to Khalid Mahmood Mithu, who is also a freelance artist involved in film, video and photography. They have two children.
At the age of one and a half, Kanak started "painting". Her teachers always encouraged her and entered her painting in competitions. Her parents decided to send Kanak to art school.
Kanak considers her artistic talent as a gift from God. She is inspired by the designs of her mother, the bright colours of tribal fabric, the hills, islands, blue water and water falls, as well as Rangamati dance and music that she has captured in her paintings.
Kanak is happy that, through her paintings, she can let people in Bangladesh and abroad know the rich aspects of the Chakma life, such as its closeness to nature and its ancestral rituals.
Kanak says her studio is open to any UNWA members interested in visiting it.
"The artist’s studio is the best place to look closely at her paintings. At the same time, one has a chance to observe some unfinished work at different stages. This builds a bridge between the art-admirer and the artist," explains Kanak.
"My paintings are very bright and show mostly happiness. In reality, indigenous people’s faces do not express happiness. But I want to catch the inner happiness of these people and the peace that they have lost from their past," Kanak says.
Kanak’s studio is Apt 5A, Brookline Apartment, House 36/1, Road 4, Dhanmondi.
by Satyawati Hanna Nurari
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have known Kanak Chanpa Chakma since April 2002, when she and her husband conducted an exhibition and charity auction of their paintings at the Dutch Club. The purpose was to raise money for someone from Rangamati who needed a kidney operation. Since then I have become great friends with this artist couple.
Kanak was born in 1963 in the Rangamati Hill Tracts, in a small town named Tabal Chari, a remote hill area. It is surrounded by Lake Karnaphuly and the people live in the upper part of the hills. Her father is a retired businessman and her mother is a textile designer and weaver who has twice won national awards for her work.
Kanak has Masters in Fine Arts from Dhaka University. She also studied at Penn State University in the US. She has held many exhibitions in Europe, USA, Canada, Japan, Korea, China, India, Nepal and Bangladesh.
Kanak is married to Khalid Mahmood Mithu, who is also a freelance artist involved in film, video and photography. They have two children.
At the age of one and a half, Kanak started "painting". Her teachers always encouraged her and entered her painting in competitions. Her parents decided to send Kanak to art school.
Kanak considers her artistic talent as a gift from God. She is inspired by the designs of her mother, the bright colours of tribal fabric, the hills, islands, blue water and water falls, as well as Rangamati dance and music that she has captured in her paintings.
Kanak is happy that, through her paintings, she can let people in Bangladesh and abroad know the rich aspects of the Chakma life, such as its closeness to nature and its ancestral rituals.
Kanak says her studio is open to any UNWA members interested in visiting it.
"The artist’s studio is the best place to look closely at her paintings. At the same time, one has a chance to observe some unfinished work at different stages. This builds a bridge between the art-admirer and the artist," explains Kanak.
"My paintings are very bright and show mostly happiness. In reality, indigenous people’s faces do not express happiness. But I want to catch the inner happiness of these people and the peace that they have lost from their past," Kanak says.
Kanak’s studio is Apt 5A, Brookline Apartment, House 36/1, Road 4, Dhanmondi.
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