Final Project!

My topic is “International Mother Language Day and its origin”. I picked this particular topic because it’s related to the country, Bangladesh, where I was born and raised. Many people don’t know about this country and its culture and they don’t really care so it is great that I got a chance to share some history of this country as a form of my public art project and class presentation. I chose a red canvas measuring sixteen inches by twenty inches and used different pictures related to my topic to make a collage on it to convey my ideas. I used nail-paint to highlight a few things. This artwork can be anywhere in the walls of schools, colleges, libraries, subways, malls, galleries or museums and this is for everybody as this day is recognized internationally. Before Bangladesh got its independence in 1971, it was known as East Pakistan covering half of the entire country Pakistan. On 21^st February, 1952 when Pakistani government declared Urdu as the national language and also changed the whole education system to this language, people of east Pakistan mostly students from University of Dhaka and Dhaka medical college protested against it to include Bangla as one of the Two national languages. They were shot and killed brutally on the spot by the police.  To honor their sacrifices for their mother tongue and to promote awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity, also to promote the preservation and protection of all languages used by peoples of the world, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) announced 21st February as International Mother Language Day on 17th November, 1999. It has been observed every year since then. In Bangladesh, it’s a public holiday and people from all walks of life pay their respects by walking barefoot from their home or by laying down flowers to the Martyr's Monument (Shaheed Minar) and replications of that monument, they light candles. They draw Alpana (colorful motifs, sacred art or painting done on a horizontal surface) on streets which emphasizes the bloodshed of their close ones. There is also a famous song named "Amar Bhaiyer Rakte Rangano" ("Coloured in the blood of my brother") which explains the beautiful street art. In my art project, I painted Bangladesh in big letters so that it is visible at first glance being the origin. I used paper prints of different pictures of students protesting, people paying their respects, little girl lighting candles and doing Alpana on the street and also a picture of the word Language in different languages. Last but not the least, I just want to add that the sacrifices my brothers made honor not only my mother tongue Bangla but also all other beautiful cultures and languages. I also believe, there’s war in everyone and everybody has a story to tell.