Dilara Begum Jolly

Statement

Dilara Begum Jolly (b. 1960, Chittagong, Bangladesh) engages with complex themes surrounding gender, trauma, and the female body in her artistic practice. Originally trained as a painter, Jolly has broadened her approach to encompass a diverse array of media, including performance, video, and sound. She is particularly known for her distinctive technique of needling on paper, which she has recently extended to photographs. This meticulous process involves drawing motifs or accentuating specific areas on photographs through needle prickling, resulting in a textured interplay of line and form.

Jolly's work was prominently featured in the exhibition *A Beast, a God and a Line* during the Dhaka Art Summit in 2018, highlighting her contribution to contemporary art discourse. The Bengal Foundation has organized several solo exhibitions of her work, including *Excavating Time* at the Bengal Gallery of Fine Arts in Dhaka (2006), *Threads of Testimony* (2014), and *microtears’/Omorar Akkhan* at the Daily Star-Bengal Arts Precinct in Dhaka (2015). Through her multifaceted practice, Jolly continues to explore and articulate the nuances of female experience, using her art as a medium for reflection and dialogue.