How is a myth made? By the lack of information and the abundance of mystery surrounding a subject. Stories being told of a person who is no longer around to confirm it or dispute it. The stories that spread via word of mouth rather than catalogued by historians and searchable by Google. In this particular case the story goes like this: even before the birth of Bangladesh, there lived an enigmatic female sculptor whose artistic visions were beyond her time. Who partnered with a fellow sculptor to create one of the most iconic national monuments of then East Pakistan. Within a few years, at the peak of her career she left the country, never to return!
In the last decade the world has seen women running for political offices and winning. It has witnessed the #MeToo movement spreading across the globe like wild fire. Young women like Greta Thunberg starting the climate movement and Malala Yousafzai taking on education for all almost single-handedly. So it is not incorrect to claim that although the world is not an equal place for women, it is definitely has learned to listen to women. And this change has instigated an interest to hearing the women’s stories in Films, literature , Art and fashion . Novera was born almost 35 years after Frida Kahlo but has the same indomitable artist’s spirit and has the potential to catch the world’s imagination with her powerful creation, fearless outlook and a feminist spirit that defies time.
Largely forgotten in her home country Bangladesh, Novera Ahmed has the potential to become the Frida Kahlo of South Asia!
Born in the late 30s at the port city of Bangladesh Chittagong, Novera would bike around the city at a time when women where only seen within the four walls of a home. She left for London to study Sculpture in the 50s by herself when girls were only allowed to go abroad with a husband or family. She received her Diploma in Design and Sculpture course from Camberwell College of Arts in London. At Camberwell she studied under the British sculptor Jacob Epstein and Karel Vogel of Czechoslovakia. In 1966, she met Danish artist Asger Jorn in Paris. She studied European sculpture under the sculptor Venturino Venturi in Florence and later in Vienna. (Info: Wikipedia) But her illustrious training career was only tiny part of this larger than life personality. She lived a colorful life without caring what the social norms were at the time! Free spirited and fearless she lived her life by her own rules until an accident made her wheelchair bound. She was only in her 30s at that time. The constant pain and later, other medical conditions could have broken her spirit. But Novera after a 10 year break came back to the international Art scene stronger than before. She travelled the world exhibiting, painting and making sculptures.
In 2017, two years after Novera passed away, her husband Gregoire de Brouhn launched Musee Novera Ahmed in a sleeping little city away from the bustle of Paris called La Roche Guyon.
It is about time Novera Ahmed is discovered by the world.
Frida Kahlo 1907 -1954 Mexico
Novera Ahmed 1939 – 2015 Chittagong/ France
“ The Myth of Novera “ by Eeshita Azad
Image curation & compilation : Durjoy Bangladesh Foundation
Novera Ahmed ‘s. Photography by Gregoire De Brouhn – Paris / South of France
A Durjoy Bangladesh Foundation Collections .
Frida Kahlo images – old archival record & internet .
Eeshita Azad is a creative producer and an arts organizer with a career spanning over 15 years who has worked in New York, London and Dhaka in the non-profit sector like the BBC Media Action, British Council and Asia Foundation. She is currently based in London and consulting for Akram Khan Company as the Bangladesh Project Advisor. She is also the Executive Director of British Bangladeshi Poetry Collective (BBPC), a creative social enterprise that operates from greater East London, UK. Eeshita has an Associate Degree in Advertising Design from Fashion Institute of Technology, New York and BA in Arts Practice and Community from Middlesex University in London.