Ashfika Rahman: Of Land, River, and Body

At Vadehra Art Gallery in New Delhi, Of Land, River, and Body marks the first solo exhibition in India by Bangladeshi artist Ashfika Rahman. Bringing together photography, installation, sound and moving image, the exhibition is rooted in a textile sensibility that foregrounds stitch, thread and touch as tools of witness. Golden silk thread recurs throughout the works, used to bind and intervene in images, transforming textile labour into an act of resistance that insists on presence ,while also seeking to heal, uplift and reassert dignity.

Files of the Disappeared Case - 1. Print of archival paper & golden silk thread with lightbox. 2020.

The exhibition brings together three interlinked projects—Than Para: No Land Without Us, Behula These Days, and Files of the Disappeared—each shaped through collaboration and remembrance. Working closely with communities affected by displacement, environmental vulnerability and enforced silence, Rahman transforms pain into testimony. Bells touched by villagers, letters embroidered by riverine women, and portraits stitched with gold thread form an intimate archive built on care and solidarity. Gods are invoked, heroes reanimated, and local languages centred, allowing cultural memory to surface alongside political critique...

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Image Credits:

Lead: Than Para (No Land Without Us) 838 temple bell (brass), golden silk threads and metal frame. Ashfika Rahman, 2025

All further images as credited in photo captions.