SAMDANI VISITING ARTIST PROGRAMME

Munem Wasif, Ashmolean Samdani Visiting Artist at the Museum

The Ashmolean Museum and the Samdani Art Foundation have announced a new partnership supporting contemporary art and artists from Bangladesh, the first sustained programme of its kind at a major international institution.

The partnership establishes the Ashmolean Samdani Visiting Artist Programme, which will bring a Bangladeshi artist to Oxford each year to spend two weeks at the Ashmolean. It will also support the development of the Museum’s collection of contemporary art from Bangladesh, with new works entering the collection over the coming years.

Munem Wasif has been appointed the inaugural Ashmolean Samdani Visiting Artist and will be in Oxford as part of the programme from 26 September to 13 October 2026. An artist, curator and educator based in Dhaka, Wasif works across photography, moving image, archival material and collected objects.

During his two weeks at the Ashmolean, Wasif will spend time with the Department of Eastern Art, exploring the Museum’s collections and archives and exchanging ideas with its curators.

Munem Wasif said:

'For years, my practice has returned to the colonial history of Bengal, often through the fragments that remain. The Ashmolean Samdani Visiting Artist gives me a chance to look at this history more closely, through the Museum’s collections and archives. I’m interested in encountering objects and artworks first-hand and seeing how they might connect with questions I have been exploring through photography, prints, and textiles.' (Note the artworks below by Wasif are not part of the Museum's collection.)

KHEYAL, Munem Wasif, 2015–2018, single channel, stereo loop. Produced with support from Bengal Foundation

Collapse, Munem Wasif, 2011-2023. Collection of the Samdani Art Foundation

As part of the partnership, the Ashmolean will also develop a dedicated collection of contemporary art from Bangladesh. With support from the Samdani Art Foundation, the Museum has recently acquired works by Bangladeshi artist Ashfika Rahman, whose practice explores questions of identity, memory and social and political histories through photography and other media.

Bon Bibi and Hundred Saga, Ashfika Rahman, 2023. Edition 1 of 5 (2 AP), C-type print on archival paper & golden silk thread. Photo credit: Artist

Professor Mallica Kumbera Landrus, Keeper of Eastern Art at the Ashmolean, said:

'I am thrilled that, through the generosity of the Samdani Art Foundation, the Ashmolean Museum will be able to build a much deeper relationship with artists and art from Bangladesh. The Museum has remarkable collections from across South Asia, and this partnership gives us an exciting opportunity to develop that story through contemporary Bangladeshi art and artists.

'I am particularly looking forward to welcoming Munem Wasif as our first Ashmolean Samdani Visiting Artist, and to seeing the new conversations and ideas his time in Oxford will inspire.'

The partnership builds on the Samdani Art Foundation’s longstanding work supporting contemporary art in Bangladesh and internationally. Founded by Nadia and Rajeeb Samdani in 2011, the Foundation is best known for the Dhaka Art Summit and Samdani Art Award.

Nadia Samdani MBE, President and co-founder of the Samdani Art Foundation, said:

'For the last 15 years, the Samdani Art Foundation has been committed to creating opportunities for Bangladeshi artists to develop their practices and reach new audiences. This new partnership with the Ashmolean is a natural extension of that vision: to create lasting cultural bridges between Bangladesh and the world.'

Diana Campbell, Artistic Director of the Samdani Art Foundation, said:

'The Ashmolean holds an impressive collection of South Asian art, and we're proud to be contributing new readings of it through our Bangladeshi Visiting Artists, treating this collection not as a closed chapter, but as raw material for how South Asian art and culture inform the worlds that Bangladeshi artists are building today.'