Wall art tells the stories of the changing fate of the artists

“I don’t know these arts. Mehfil organisers used to contact me to write and paint their advertisements on walls for one or two thousand taka, depending on the size of the work. After the revolution, I have not been getting as much work as I used to. It has been a month that I have been sitting idle.” Abul Kashem is a wall painter struggling in his mid-fifties because he has no work left. Dhaka, a city that dances with the beats of struggles and is tuned for hope, sings this familiar story like Abul Kashem. If one walks through the streets of Shahbagh or the Dhaka University campus, one cannot miss the vivid splashes of colour that now adorn the city’s walls. What were once blank canvases covered with layers of posters of politicians have transformed into expressions of art, protest, and the recent July revolution. Who are the artists of these new arts? Are they people like Abul Kashem? These walls once told the stories of change, creativity, and the shifting dynamics of a city’s identity, but now also tell the stories of those workers who used to earn their livelihood by painting walls. How are they now?...