Rokeya Sultana's (Bangladesh) work reflects loss and displacement, and the ephemerality in life. She was influenced in her formative years by the tumultuous 1971 revolution that created Bangladesh, and the evolution of a strong cultural identity in the country’s art and society. She addresses issues of womanhood and the power of intuition and imagination in her works. Through a symbolic personal language, she expresses such metaphysical perceptions as women in communion with nature, who lead the next generation. Widely known for her figural series Madonna and Relations, and her abstract landscapes in the Earth Water Series, Rokeya strongly continues to innovate and refine her vision in contemporary manner. Rokeya is telling the story of a middles class working mother with a girl child along with some hidden desires in her Madonna series, which is a significant reflection of her personal narratives and struggles too. Rokeya also have a strong reflection of non-binary comprehensions in her “Relation” series which is clearly a courageous attempt and enquiry through her works. She is an award-winning artist with an educational background. After finishing BFA in from the Fine Arts Institute, University of Dhaka, Rokeya pursued MFA from the Visva Bharati University, Santiniketan, India. Currently holding the position of Professor in the Department of Printmaking, Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Dhaka.
Reshma Chhiba (South-Africa) is a visual artist and dancer based in Johannesburg, South Africa. She blurs the lines between the mythological/real, feminine/masculine, Indian/Black, performed/painted, and transcendent/physical. Through obsessive encounters with the goddess Kali – the unbridled, provocative and ferocious goddess of Time – Chhiba draws on aspects of sexuality and identity as understood through Kali’s embodiment of female defiance and aggression. Through an exploration of Bharatanatyam mime, threaded penetration into the surface of saris and canvasses and a mixture of non-traditional painting media, including kumkum, turmeric, crushed coal and ash, she draws on the signs and symbols of goddess, destruction and aggression to create female identities of defiance and revolt. She holds an MAFA from the University of the Witwatersrand, and a diploma in Bharatanatyam from the Institute of Indian Art and Culture (South Africa). She is also co-founder of Sarvavidya Natyaalaya (SVN), a non-profit Bharatanatyam school based in Gauteng.
Tilottama Bhowmick (Bangladesh) encouraged by the vast wealth of the sub-continental folklore, Tilottama’s interest for art emerged at an early age. Bhowmick’s is born in Bangladesh but living between Delhi and Dhaka for last few years. Her work process is meditative and it revisit the deeper quest into an insight realm through colors, forms, textures, and symbols. She has a distinctive skill of storytelling through her work that connects the viewers though the notion of curiosity. Her mind is intuitively open inside the mystery of life and death. Following that, she goes back to the creation process. Most of her works are introspective and autobiographical. She argues that 'the self' carries 'duality' and it doesn't have an autonomous existence because it is always overshadowed by the reflection of ourselves on others. She is keen to get a better understanding of non-binary anthropological history, different mythologies, and philosophies from around the world so that she can assimilate the different ideas and contrast them to create new possibilities. Bhowmick focus on the selection of colors, developing structural drawing skill, and gaining efficiency in the use of heterogeneous material in her work. She likes to explore the different mediums in her grasp. She is constantly searching her own perspective to see or understand contemporary existences.
Kivithra Naicker (South-Africa) Born and raised in Durban, Kivithra Naicker graduated from the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Drama & Performance Studies. She went on to pursue an MA in Theatre & Performance at the University of Cape Town as part of the postgraduate programme in Live Art, Interdisciplinary, and Public Art. Her artistic practice and research sit between the exploration and interrogation of the South African Indian female identity through the medium of performance which takes an auto-ethnographical approach. Examining ceremonial and cultural practices within the Tamil- Hindu Community of Durban, South Africa, her work draws from her own heritage as a South African Indian (Hindu) womxn looking at spaces within which transgression can occur. Naicker is an ongoing guest writer for the Jomba! Contemporary Dance Festival in Durban also freelanced as a theatre technician there since 2011. Among a wide range of work done by her includes the play “Venus” directed by her in 2011(written by Suzan-Lori Parks), “How Not to Ask"for it & Other tips”, written and performed by her in 2017, Dance piece with the title “Boy” is choreographed and performed by her too. Also, there is the series of two performative installation- “Karuvil”, among the exciting works of Naicker.