Novera Ahmed

Edited by Abul Hasnat, Published by Bengal Publications Limited, February 2015, Cover design: Rafiqun Nabi, Page: 160, Price: Taka 250.00

THE book encompasses Novera Ahmed; the sculptor and individual through the eyes of many well known writers such as Mehboob Ahmed, Faiz Ahmed Faiz,Abdus Salam Choudhury, Rabiul Hussain, Rezaul Karim Sumon, S.M.Ali and many more. 

To many she is a reknowned artist but very few know much about her personal life. The book is a perfect collage of her academic, professional and personal life. Novera Ahmed is a force to be reckoned with. Edited by Abul Hasnat, the book embodies memories that the writers had with Novera Ahmed. Without diminishing the individual style of the writers, he harmoniously sews their accounts of her in such a manner that it almost seems like a biography of her life.     

Novera Ahmed is considered larger than life; her work is deemed to be ahead of its time but that has never allowed the sculptor to lose sight of her roots and traditions. Novera Ahmed's use of material for her sculptures ranged from cement, marble to plaster, wood and stones. Her works are described in the book as unique, feminine, natural and exquisite and her sense of architecture is praised and considered by many of the critics as aesthetically beautiful. Novera Ahmed was a major contributor in the erection of the Shaheed Minar and also has a 3 part installation appropriately titled the "Seated Woman" that is compared with  Switzerland's Matterhorn (a natural almost perfect pyramidal peak of a mountain in the Alps). Her first exhibition was a major success. There was no denying the brimming creativity of the artist and the success that she would go on to achieve in the coming years.  Her work of art let that be paintings or sculptures are famous amongst art circles in London, Pakistan, Bangkok.  S.M Ali described Novera Ahmed as a beacon in the world of sculptors. Novera Ahmed experimented with different mediums and these pieces are considered symbols of raw art. The artist herself believes that every work of art is about its architecture and aesthetic beauty. 

Readers will not only be enlightened but get a peek into the mindset of one of the most well known artist's of our time. Novera Ahmed's sculptures display extremities of human emotions without losing its grasp on reality. 

The reviewer works at The Daily Star.