Indigenous people of Bangladesh have been living in the CHT (Chittagong Hill Tracts) of Bangladesh for centuries. During this time of existence they have had to face miscellaneous of hardships videlicet thousands of Jumma being evacuated due to Kaptai Dam in 1962, the massacre of Logang in April 10, 1992, getting burned down hundreds of houses at Longudu in 2017, attempts to evict Mro people for the purpose of building a five star hotel in Bandarban in 2020 and many more incidents.
Many indigenous activists have been trying to raise their voices against these injustices towards Jumma people. But in the past there were only a few who raised their voices against these through paintings or artworks. Nowadays many Jumma artists are trying to portray the struggles of indigenous peoples of Bangladesh via their artworks. Such a renowned artist is Jayatu Chakma. He hails from Chakma community. Since childhood, his passion for painting was inestimable. Due to which at his young age he used to come to Rangamati town from Bandukvanga, a remote area of Rangamati once a week to master drawing and this led him to pursue a career in Art works. Jayatu completed his graduation and post graduation in painting from the University of Chittagong. Later he did his second master’s from Rabindra Bharati University.
The major of his paintings are acrylic paintings, water colors and oil paints. Besides his minor studies are Sculpture, Print Making, Multimedia, photography and Design. Since childhood he’s been garnering awards for his astonishing paintings. He’s received Grand Prize at Annual Art Exhibition 2015, Institute of Fine Arts, University of Chittagong, 1st Prize at 25th Berger Young Painter Art Competition, 2020, and Grant Recipients of Home Art Project 2020 Brihatta Art Foundation.
Being part of the indigenous community, Jayatu has always considered nature, indigenous people and the CHT as an inspiration for his paintings. In his paintings he tries to highlight the instant incidents take place in the CHT in particular which is clearly reflected in his recent exhibition “Story of The Hill” arranged by EMK Center in 2021. In the exhibition 36 artworks were featured and in every artwork he’s portrayed the callousness indigenous people of Bangladesh go through.
Moreover his artworks were featured in many notable exhibitions in the past like Brihatta Home Art Project 2020 Quamrul Hasan Gallery, Bengal Foundation, Dhaka; 24th National Art Exhibition 2021 Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, Dhaka; 22nd your Artist Art Exhibition, 2020 Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, Dhaka; 51st Birla Annual Exhibition 2018 Organized by- Birla Art Academy, Kolkata, India; and so on.
Written by Saptorshi Dewan
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