On the occasion of International Mother Language Day, the Embassy of Bangladesh organized an Art Camp titled, ‘Love for Language and Culture’ on Tuesday. The event ran from 10:30 am to 5:00 pm and featured renowned Nepali artists.

According to the Secretary of Trade, Promotion and Culture, Mohammad Humayun Kabir, International Mother Language Day is a big occasion in Bangladesh as the country initiated its celebration. Moreover, historically, 21 February is also the day people of Bangladesh—then East Bengal of Pakistan—fought for recognition for the Bengali language and established it as their state language, back in 1952. All Bangladeshi missions across the world celebrated the event.

Kiran Manandhar, Jeevan Rajopadhyaya, Vijay Thapa and Gautam Ratna Tuladhar were some of the famous artists who participated in the programme. Secretary Kabir says, “We have an emotional attachment to the event because it dates back to 1952 when people were rebelling to have Bangla be the state language. In 1991 UNESCO declared this day International Mother Language Day to protect the language and culture of every ethnicity. From that day their celebration was global.”

The ambassador of Bangladesh to Nepal, Salahuddin Noman Chowdhury, reveals that the art camp is a new way of commemorating the occasion that has been celebrated for the last 70 years. He says, “Art is a great medium to celebrate language, culture and traditional values. All of these are under the threat of extinction right now. So we organised this event hoping it will send a strong message to encourage communities to protect our culture and languages.”

The ambassador adds, “Nepal and Bangladesh share a strong bond and the art communities of both the countries are quite similar. So we thought this event would be a good way to connect the two communities.”

Ratna Shakya, the president of Artboom and a coordinator of the event felt it showcased the culture and art of both nations. He also requested the Embassy of Bangladesh to conduct similar events in the future. Sushma Rajbhandari, another coordinator of the event, revealed that the embassy is infact planning another event in the near future to showcase all the art pieces created on Tuesday.

Artist and the founding chancellor of Nepal Academy of Fine Arts Kiran Manandhar also echoes Shakya’s sentiments about events like this being important to preserve the art and culture of Nepal and Bangladesh.

Artist Vijay Thapa made the strong bond between Nepal and Bangladesh the theme for his painting of the day. He says, “Our countries have maintained a good relationship. I see it reflected in the strong bond we share—almost like a mother protecting her baby. That is what I based my art for today on.”

Another artist present at the programme, Raju Pithakote also created a piece that symbolises the bond between Nepal and Bangladesh. His painting depicted a ray of union between the two nations. Commenting on his own artwork, he says, “This painting symbolises not just the connection between two countries but also the love shared between two individuals.”