Bridging the Connection
Opening Reception: Saturday, September 26, 2-4pm
Organized by Bangladeshi American Artists Forum (BAAF)
Curated by Kaiser Kamal and Kyoko Sato
Artist-in-Residence from Japan: Nobuko
Exhibiting Artists: Arthur Azad | Alma Leya | Barkia Azam | Bishwajit Chowdhury | Bonnie Astor | Dina Zaman | Dipa Debnath | Farhana Yasmin | Kaiser Kamal | Kaniz Husna Akbory | Kazol Anthony Das | Kyaw C Maung | Mohammed Hassan Rokon | Nobuko (Japan) | Ruddro Md Ayudh Jahangir | Salma Sinha Kaniz | Sazada Sultana | Shinobu (Japan) | Sherry X Chen | Shameem Subrana | Sujit Kumar Saha | Syed Azizur Rahaman | Tajul Imam | Tariq Julfiker | Zebun Nesa Kamal
Each year from May through October, more than two dozen arts and cultural organizations activate the historic houses on Governors Island through the Governors Island Arts’ Organizations in Residence program. The program provides a unique platform for artists and cultural organizations to present free exhibitions, public programs, workshops, and artist residencies in one of New York City’s most distinctive cultural settings. Over the next decade, New York City and the Trust for Governors Island plan to expand this seasonal initiative toward year-round permanent homes for cultural organizations on the Island.
Against this extraordinary setting between the waters of New York Harbor and the city skyline, the Bangladeshi American Artists Forum (BAAF) has been presenting Between River and Harbor: Stories That Carry Us, a multidisciplinary cultural program exploring migration, memory, identity, belonging, and the ways stories travel across generations and borders.
This fall, curated by Kaiser Kamal and Kyoko Sato, the program transforms one of Governors Island’s historic houses into a space of encounter—a place where personal histories, ancestral memories, artistic practices, and different cultural perspectives can meet and resonate with one another.
A significant new dimension of this fall’s program is BAAF’s collaboration with New York–based curator Kyoko Sato, with the support by the Art Incubation Association of Japan, which brings artists from Japan into the Governors Island program for the first time. This collaboration expands the conversation beyond a single diasporic experience and creates a broader dialogue between Bangladeshi American and Japanese artistic perspectives.