School of Social and Political Science

Description

Can art shift the sense of belonging, influence the context of history, and expand the understanding about communities beyond the typecast? In this talk, Sadya Mizan will share the positioning of cultural projects in order to break stereotyped mindsets and explain how art can be a medium of healing, awareness, knowledge sharing and creating better bonding. She will also share how migration histories have become a significant element in her curatorial practice and praxis over the last few years.

For the last two years, Sadya Mizan has been affiliated with the Rohingya Cultural Memory Centre-RCMC, alongside her independent curatorial projects. The unique cultural project of the Rohingya Cultural Memory Centre functions as an alternative museum of Rohingya Cultural Heritage. The project is initiated by United Nations-International Organization for Migration under the Mental Health Facilities. Here Rohingya cultural heritage is archived and promoted through the creative talent, knowledge and skill of the Rohingya artists/artisans in the refugee camp. The Rohingya refugee camp in Ukhiya, Bangladesh, is currently the largest refugee camp in the world and the RCMC is built at the very center of that camp. RCMC is a community-built, community-run and community-maintained cultural centre, housing the largest collections of visuals of Rohingya cultural heritage. The Centre is built with their participation and their knowledge is reflected in every corner of it. It provides a sense of belonging, helps heal their trauma of losing their cultural identity and allows them to develop their skill and knowledge. At the same time, it also reveals the positive image of the Rohingya refugees through the creative visuals and research.  

In this talk, Sadya Mizan will be in conversation with Laura Jeffery, Professor of Anthropology of Migration at the University of Edinbugh, and discuss the work, artefacts and processes of the RCMC in more detail and sharing details of her other community projects where creative tools have played a major role under her curatorial facilitation.

Biography

Sadya Mizan is an independent curator, researcher and creative consultant. She has a multidisciplinary practice through the lens of artist-led initiatives, decentralised community-based art intervention, museum consultancy and curatorial partnerships. Her curatorial expertise is in facilitating decentralised platforms to identify cultural heritage, reconnect and archive cultural narratives, reflect contemporary social realities and inspire community-inclusive site-responsive artistic expressions.

Uronto Artist Community is one of her pioneering initiatives since 2012, an artist-led open collective doing storytelling through art and upholding social responsibilities. Since 2018, she is the founding trustee of Art Initiative Bangladesh, which empowers art infrastructure through alternative research and resources. Currently she is affiliated as an artist facilitator with the Rohingya Cultural Memory Centre-under the UN-IOM, a community-run museum located in Rohingya Refugee camp, to identify Rohingya cultural heritage through their talent, memories and creative skills.

Sadya is a mentor to the Rickshaw Art Project in the new South Asian Gallery of Manchester Museum. Furthermore, she is a curatorial partner in the Our Shared Cultural Heritage project by British Council to connect youth with cultural heritage and museums. Sadya has been a contributing researcher for Asia Art Archive-Delhi and a fellow at the Art Think South Asia-India, the Autumn School of curating in Romania-2020, the EDI Global forum fellowship in Naples 2022 etc. She mentors in diverse academic courses introducing inclusive creative methodologies in South Africa, Bulgeria, Hongkong and India. Her research on art infrastructure, art activism to represent voices of minor community and contemporary art archiving tendencies contribute in shaping future references of art history.

Further info

This event is co-organised by the Centre for South Asian Studies and Social Anthropology at the School of Social and Political Science, University of Edinburgh.