Mother # 2, By Langston Hughes

A country, that was formerly known as East Pakistan, had to fight in a devastating civil war against their ruling country of Pakistan that left 300,000 civilians dead, to gain their independence. In 1971, the country of Bangladesh was established. After Bangladesh gained their independence, many changes transformed the culture and the ways of living. An example of this change includes a new language that was established, also known as Bangla. Due to the independence struggle of not wanting Urdu to be declared the official language of Pakistan, Bengali nationalism led to the victory of the country during their nine month civil war. This artwork, titled “Mother #2”, painted by Bengali artist Bishwajit Goswami, should be included in an Asian Art Museum because of the use of Bangla and the use of Bengali clothing throughout the piece.
Goswami is currently a drawing and painting lecturer in the Fine Art Faculty at Dhaka University. According to Artist Trekker, “Mother #2” was shown at the Bengal Art Lounge in Dhaka in 2014. The artwork reflects Bengali culture by having the woman in the painting wear a jamdani saree, and also by including Bangla. The garment and textile industries dominate Bangladesh’s industrial landscape. As stated in The World FactBook, garment exports accounted for 80% of Bangladesh’s total exports and surpassed $25 billion in 2015. Many sarees that are bought in Asian clothing stores were handcrafted by men and women in Bangladesh. According to Virtual Bangladesh, these sarees can take up to 14 days to make due to all the detail put into it and because the saree is made strand by strand. By painting the woman in the piece to wear a red jamdani saree, Goswami symbolized Bangladesh’s main industry and their traditional