Shyamal Krishna Bashak ( bn, শ্যামল কৃষ্ণ বসাক) (born January 1, 1967) is a

Bangladeshi Bangladeshis ( bn, বাংলাদেশী ) are the citizens of Bangladesh, a South Asian country centered on the transnational historical region of Bengal along the eponymous bay. Bangladeshi citizenship was formed in 1971, when the ...

artist, and served as senior artist cum audio-visual officer of the National Museum of Science and Technology in

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

for 20 years, and was previously chief artist of daily newspaper ''

Bhorer Kagoj ''Bhorer Kagoj'' ( bn, দৈনিক ভোরের কাগজ ''Bhorer Kagoj'' "Dawn's Paper") is a major Bengali-language daily newspaper, published from Dhaka, Bangladesh. The newspaper is published in both print and online formats. Hi ...

''.

Early life and education

Born to Narayan Chandra Bashak, a prominent makeup artist in

Mymensingh Mymensingh ( bn, ময়মনসিংহ) is the capital of Mymensingh Division, Bangladesh. Located on the bank of Brahmaputra River, about north of the national capital Dhaka, it is a major financial center and educational hub of north ...

, a city in

Mymensingh District Mymensingh ( bn, ময়মনসিংহ) is a district in Mymensingh Division, Bangladesh, and is bordered on the north by Meghalaya, a state of India and the Garo Hills, on the south by Gazipur District, on the east by the districts of Netr ...

in the central region of

, Shyamal was instructed in the arts from a young age. He would go on to receive his Masters of Fine Arts in printmaking from the

Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Dhaka The Faculty of Fine Arts (FFA) was established in 1948 as the Dhaka Art School. It was the first art school in the region and became the main centre of art and cultural practice. Since 1956 it has been situated in Shahbag, Dhaka, close to the Ban ...

where he would attract attention by receiving the Dhaka University Central Student's Union's Ekushey Padak for his design work commemorating the Language Movement.

Career

After completing his master's degree, Bashak would participate in both group and solo exhibitions including "Life Line & Light" a three-man exhibition at the Bangladesh National Museum, and "Save Human" a set of 4 exhibitions to raise funds for flood relief in Bangladesh. He would later be recruited by Bhorer Kagoj to serve as chief artist, until he joined Bangladesh's National Museum of Science and Technology as their senior artist and audio-visual officer where he would spend two decades making significant improvements to the galleries and various displays, carrying out the design and implementation of "Science Park" while still working on independent exhibitions throughout Bangladesh and internationally.

Attacks

It was reported that on May 29, 2013 Bashak was assaulted by Islamic fundamentalist co-workers in attempt to purge prominent Hindus from the National Science Museum. The severity of the assault and his prominence led to the attack being covered across Bangladesh, which led to further attempts on his life including a shooting in December 2013 which, while not killing Bashak resulted in him crashing his motorcycle and receiving serious injuries, and a firebombing of his home a year later.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bashak, Shyamal Bangladeshi painters Bengali male artists Persecution of Bengali Hindus University of Dhaka Faculty of Fine Arts alumni 1967 births Living people