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Professional Life is the search of a livelihood, and in this rigmarole of drudgery people become mechanical. Your job takes a life of its own, and in a pursuit of excellence which results in more money being earned and more material benefit, one becomes a little apathetical of the finer sentiments that resides in the persona of every one. This may not happen if the "Arts" was in the blood, in the very soul of some body.
One such man, who lives on as a practitioner of the fine arts, is. Nur Mohammad Zalali. Oh yes, he is very much a professional, working as a manager, public relations in a large and prestigious group of companies.
Zalali attained a diploma in ceramics from the institute of fine arts, university of Dhaka. After finishing a one-year diploma course in Chinese Language, Beijing. Zalali took a full scholarship to obtain a bachelor of fine arts (BFA) from the central academy of Arts and Design, Beijing China.
He held solo exhibitions in Toronto Hotel, Art Gallery, Beijing, China. And Indian High Commission Art gallery, Dhaka. Zalali has participated in contests and exhibitions like National art Competitions in Handicrafts, Shilpakala Academy, and in all annual exhibitions held in the Shangri-la hotel Beijing. He has two awards to his credit, namely class award in Ceramic and award in ceramic in the National Art Competition in Handicrafts.
His work is in private collection in Canada, USA, Sweden, Germany, Japan, China, Portugal, and Bangladesh.
Ershad Khandker met Zalali, to discover the romance and finer points of arts and also to find out the dual life and existence of the man.
FE: You are a ceramics graduate with an obvious penchant for pottery. Why so?
Zalali: You see, pottery has always been close to people's lives since it's beginning in the Neolithic age of primitive society. Pottery vessels have been turned out constantly to meet the daily needs of the people. In fact, human society could become a little more civilized as the discovery of fire made manufacture pottery vessels possible. Early humans used pottery to serve food and store essentials. Pottery making is a useful art, which combines art and technique, and the introduction of pottery was a direct contribution to human civilization.
Later human society progressed further, as pottery vessels were used as crucibles to smelt metals. When the technique of metallurgy appeared in the world, the great leap of industrialization became a dream that was one step closer to achieving. So you see my interest in pottery stems form my interest to discover more about the evolution of human society and what human's so great. This has been a journey into the fine arts as we;; as a journey of self-discovery .
FE: The artist in you lives on, however the pursuit of arts has become difficult, please comment
Zalali: You are right. However, this is the reality and arts is not that much apart from reality? I have to take care of my family. And I am not the first artist who has had to make this compromise. I am an artist who will remain committed to the arts and shall peruse my art for all time to come. Sponsorship is something that is essential to stage exhibitions and commission new art, therefore, with support from the connoisseurs of arts, I may be able to make better headway in my life as an artist.
FE: Tell us your view about the arts and crafts of Bangladesh and its future:
The student of Fine Arts institute is a helpless creature. We do not have a culture where an art aficionado would sponsor creative and brilliant graduate to pursue his dream. I am not saying that each and every student can be given such an opportunity. However, it would be nice to see more interest from the rich and famous, in promoting the arts in Bangladesh. Government endowments could be increased and scholarships could be increased also so that students can avail of opportunities to go abroad.
FE: Tell us your future plans:
My endeavors are limited at this stage. However, pottery is my passion. I shall help whoever needs help and at the same time keep on striving to improve my own standard of work. I go to Pal Para, where the pottery artists could benefit from some of the new technique that I have learnt from my days abroad. The urge to improve is strong, and i shall keep on working on my work, in between my official duties as a manager in public relations , of a local company.
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