Sundaram Tagore presents the first New York solo exhibition of work by Tayeba Begum Lipi, one of Bangladesh’s foremost contemporary artists. This exhibition, which includes installations, paintings and sculpture, showcases the Dhaka-based artist’s innovative use of materials.
Tayeba Begum Lipi’s paintings, prints, videos and installations articulate themes of female marginality and focus on the female body. She’s best known for her sculptural works, which re-create everyday objects of domesticity—bathtubs, strollers, wheelchairs, dressing tables and women’s undergarments—made from safety pins and razor blades. The provocative and visually compelling choice of materials speaks to the violence facing women in Bangladesh, as well as referencing tools used in childbirth in the more underdeveloped parts of the country.
Lipi rose to international acclaim in 2011, when she was the commissioner for the first Bangladeshi pavilion at the 54th Venice Biennale, and again in 2012 when her work was included in the Guggenheim Museum survey of contemporary Southeast Asian art No Country. Her installation Love Bed is now part of the museum’s permanent collection. Lipi returned to the Venice Biennale in 2015, as part of the collateral event Frontiers Reimagined.
On March 5, 2016, Artist as Activist: Tayeba Begum Lipi and Mahbubur Rahman will open at the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University.