Sumi Anjuman's odyssey as a woman in Bangladesh's Muslim conservative sociocultural structure, like the majority of women in that paradigm, is a constant conflict. And such empirical instances have benefited her to intuit gender-specific oppression and agony of that society on an equivalent magnitude. In consequence, her artistic practice aims to engage in a non-violent discourse within our society to tackle those phenomena forthrightly.
In order to achieve such a pursuit, Anjuman's practice's aesthetic fosters a poetic yet magic realism fabric by integrating fictitious photographs, hand-stitched with re-photographic approaches, and archives. In parallel, her multivocal methodology embodies the concept of 'healing through creation', and that collective artistic eventuality born of that concept often strives to create a strong cerebral as well as emotive impact on the onlooker.
Anjuman is currently based in Dhaka, Bangladesh, where she teaches at Counter Foto – A Centre for Visual Art. She holds a master's degree in Photography & Society from the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague, Netherlands, and previously completed a three-year diploma in Photography at Pathshala South Asian Media Institute in Dhaka.
Exhibitions
• 2025 - 'Mama' by Kunstpalast Dusseldorf, Germany
• 2024 - FORMAT Festival, Leicester, UK
• 2024 - 10 SUR 10 by Fisheye Gallery, Arles, France
• 2024 – Solo Exhibition, titled ‘Wounds Healed, Tales Etched / দাগ’, presented by Sammlung Philara in Düsseldorf, Germany as part of the Düsseldorf photo+ Biennale for Visual and Sonic Media.
• 2024 – Encounters Of Young International Photography, Villa Perochon - CACP, Niort, France
• 2023 – Dhaka Art Summit, Bangladesh
• 2022 - Laureates of Carte Blanche Students 2022, co-organized by Paris Photo, France
• 2021 - ‘Pride Photo 2020’, Curiosity: The Compass to Our Passions, The Netherlands
• 2021 - Chobi Mela - ‘Shunno’, Bangladesh
• 2021 - ‘The Makeable Mind’, the Noorderlicht International Photo Festival, The Netherlands
Awards / Residencies
• 2024 – Encounters Of Young International Photography, Villa Perochon - CACP, Niort, France
• 2023 - One of the fourth finalists of the '2022 W. Eugene Smith Student Grant'
• 2022 - One of the 4 Laureates of Carte Blanche Students 2022, co-organized by Paris Photo
• 2021 – Recipients of ‘Seed Awards’ of Prince Claus Fund
• 2020 - Winner in the Series category – ‘Pride Photo 2020’, Curiosity: The Compass to Our Passions
• 2020 – Selected as one of ‘Ones to Watch’ of British Journal of Photography
• 2020 – Selected as 'Top Photography Graduates to Watch’ of PHmuseum
• 2020 – Finalist for ‘The Alexia 2020 Student Grant’
• 2020 - OUC Workshop (International Documentary Workshop) in Nepal