Catalogue / Shakibul Islam
Shakibul Islam
Drying clothes
The day's washing, hung out under big banana leaves
Morning has already passed through these cloths.
Yellow hangs heavy like a field of straw, still holding water.
The green check catches the sun the banana leaves let through.
Red brick, warm as a stove, takes the weight without complaint.
A wooden plank leans at the door, striped with shadow.
Above, the leaves split and fan, wider than any roof.
By evening someone will fold all this and carry it in.
The work
Drying clothes dates from 2021. Shakibul Islam paints it in watercolour on handmade paper, 38.1 × 27.94 cm. A low brick hut sits under a sloping tiled roof. Cloths hang over its edge to dry: cream with a red border, a yellow one, a green check and a deep pink with dark spots. Banana leaves and sky are soft and wet. The hut is drawn with firm dark lines. Today Islam works mostly in oil, acrylic and gouache. This small watercolour shows a quieter side of his hand.
- Theme
- Everyday life at home
- Material
- Watercolour on handmade paper
- Size
- 38.1 × 27.94 cm
- Year
- 2021
- Edition
- 1
- Framed
- Yes
- About the artist
- Sir J. J. School of Art, Architecture and Design, Mumbai
- From
- Mumbai
- Code
- RC-655
- @realshakibulislam
In the artist’s words
My practice operates at the intersection of identity formation, corporeality, and sociocultural regulation, with a sustained focus on queerness as both lived experience and critical framework. I grew up within patriarchal and homophobic environments, where I observed how queer bodies are celebrated in ritual yet ridiculed in daily life. These early experiences of bullying, exclusion, and performative inclusion continue to inform my work. My first painting on LGBTQIA+ identity was made during my BFA, responding to a mythological assignment through the story of Swami Ayyappa and queer adoption rights in the Indian Constitution. Since then, my work has expanded to address personal experience, rights, intimacy, and the social position of…
Meet the artist
