Staff Reporter, Dhaka : The Centre of Excellence for Gender, Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (CGSRHR) at BRAC James P Grant School of Public Health (BRAC JPGSPH), BRAC University has organized a three-day long art exhibition at Drik Gallery recently. This exhibition is part of the advocacy project, the School is implementing on the rights of structurally silenced women titled “Our Voices, Our Futures,” in collaboration with CREA, India, funded by the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

This exhibition was the result of the Art Fellowship Programme offered under OVOF jointly with the Oroddho Foundation, which involves the creative participation of 11 young artists (15 to 19), all of whom have been awarded fellowships. These talented fellows have been meticulously crafting diverse art forms, including canvas paintings, digital illustrations, comic strips, poetry, short stories, photo narratives, and more to promote the rights of structurally silenced women. Through this exhibition, the aim was to initiate dialogues around the rights of structurally silenced women within our society through the perspectives of young artists, offering a platform for their creative growth while advocating for human rights.

The inauguration ceremony of the exhibition started with a brief introduction of the project given by the Project Coordinator, Farhana Alam to provide the background of the project to the participants. Sabina Faiz Rashid, Dean and Professor at BRAC JPGSPH, gave the welcome address from the school where she talked about the importance of engaging the youth to initiate the discussion on the rights of the structurally Silenced women in Bangladesh. The chief guest of the event, Mr Thijs Woudstra, The Charge de Affairs, the Netherlands Embassy of Bangladesh shared his thoughts after the welcome address. The implement partner of the Art fellowship programme, Oroddho Foundation shared their experience on the whole process of implementing the programme and conducted a session with art fellows where the young artist shared their experience throughout the fellowship. The inauguration ceremony concluded with a walk through the exhibition with the event’s guests.

The exhibition also had two dialogue sessions with the school and college-going students who participated in the open conversation where the artists shared their experience working on structurally silenced women and the participants also shared their perceptions regarding the issue. Antara Farnaz Khan, Executive Director, Oroddho Foundation facilitated the dialogue session