Munem Wasif
Residency period
2 April – 30 June 2019
About
Munem Wasif (b. 1983, Bangladesh) explores complex socio-political issues through photography and video. His artistic practice is marked by close engagement and intimate commitment, both physical and psychological, to his subjects of interest and it usually unfolds through long-term research processes. While interested in the archival and social value of documentary photography, his works often confound the boundaries between fact and fiction. An award-winning photographer, he has participated in international exhibitions such as Sharjah Biennial 14, United Arab Emirates (2019); the 9th Asia Pacific Triennale of Contemporary Art, Brisbane, Australia (2018-19); An Atlas of Mirrors, Singapore Biennale (2016), amongst numerous others.
Focus
Prompted by recent shifts in the political climate of his own country, Munem Wasif is currently working on a film project titled Goom (forced disappearance, kidnapping in Bangla.) The work revolves around the increasing phenomenon of people gone missing, disappearances that often remain unexplained and unaccounted for. Less interested in excavating factual and political circumstances, the artist rather plans to focus on the human figures of the disappeared, tracing the emotional and psychological repercussions of their violent vanishment as an attempt to ultimately reinstate their visibility. Still at an initial stage of development, Goom is conceived as an experimental process which borrows from various techniques and methodologies to capture the affective landscape generated by loss. During the residency, Munem Wasif will try to hone his poetic visual language to convey memory and recollection of these violent losses.
Public programmes
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Deeply enmeshed with the political complexities of the Bengal region, the artistic practice of Munem Wasif addresses the aftermaths of colonialism, issues of environmental exploitation, and the social repercussions of divisive border policing in the wake of globalisation. In this talk, the artist will discuss previous and recent projects that exemplify his working methodology, aesthetic criteria, and commitment to images—both still and moving—that capture, convey, and transcend reality. The talk will be followed by the screening of Wasif’s two short-films Kheyal (2015-18) and Machine Matter (2017), which are part of the Centre’s screening series Faces of Histories.
BIOGRAPHY
Munem Wasif (Bangladesh) explores complex socio-political issues through photography and video. His artistic practice is marked by close engagement and intimate commitment, both physical and psychological, to his subjects of interest and it usually unfolds through long-term research processes. While interested in the archival and social value of documentary photography, his works often confound the boundaries between fact and fiction. He has participated in international exhibitions such as Sharjah Biennial 14 (2019); the 9th Asia Pacific Triennale of Contemporary Art, Brisbane (2018-19); An Atlas of Mirrors, Singapore Biennale (2016), among numerous others. Wasif is currently Artist-in-Residence at NTU CCA Singapore (2 April – 1 July 2019).
Image caption: Munem Wasif, Machine Matter, 2017, Single channel video, 14m05s, BW, Stereo, Loop. Installation view, Sharjah Biennial 14. Courtesy the artist and Project 88