States of Legibility: Mohammad Kibria's Calligraphic Modernism, 1950-1970
[Thesis]
Phoutrides, Maria
Khullar, Sonal
University of Washington
2019
41 p.
M.A.
University of Washington
2019
This paper focuses on the works of Bangladeshi artist Mohammad Kibria, particularly those created between the 1950s and 1970s, the decades around the time in which the artist studied in Japan at the Tokyo University of Fine Arts and Music. In doing so, this paper examines how the network of artistic exchange between Bengal and Japan has persisted and transformed through periods of decolonization and independence. The paper situates Kibria's practice within the historical context of Pan-Asianism and engages more recent scholarship on calligraphic and global modernism. The paper proposes a reading of the artist's work that considers the shifting relationship between the artist and the nation-state in postcolonial Bengal, as well as the hazy distinction between word and image in calligraphic modernism.