‘City of memories’: Kazi Salahuddin Ahmed’s solo miniature exhibition opens at AFD

Alliance Française de Dhaka has inaugurated "City of Memories", a solo exhibition featuring 140 miniature paintings by acclaimed artist Kazi Salahuddin Ahmed. The show opened yesterday, at 11am at the organisation's Gulshan Gallery.

The ceremony was attended by H E Jean-Marc Séré-Charlet, Ambassador of France to Bangladesh, as Chief Guest, and Asif A Chowdhury, Honorary Consul for Chile in Bangladesh, as Special Guest. Artists, cultural figures, art admirers and media representatives were also present.

Photo: Courtesy

The exhibition presents Salahuddin's latest body of work, drawing on his lifelong connection to Old Dhaka, where he resides. Once a flourishing Mughal-era hub of trade and culture, Old Dhaka still retains an intimate, communal way of life in its narrow lanes and shared courtyards. But its architectural and cultural fabric has faced waves of change — from the economic shifts of the British colonial period to the painful legacy of 1971, and now the rapid rise of modern redevelopment.

Historic homes, ornate facades and long-standing courtyards are increasingly giving way to concrete high-rises. In "City of Memories", Salahuddin revisits these fading landscapes through an artistic language inspired by the intricate tradition of Mughal miniature painting. His layered compositions, architectural fragments and fleeting human figures evoke both what the city is losing and what continues to endure — a collective sense of belonging, resilience and community.

Photo: Courtesy

Salahuddin, who held his first exhibition in 1987, is a distinguished figure in the visual arts of Bangladesh. He has participated in numerous group shows and has presented nearly 30 solo exhibitions at home and abroad, including in France, the United States, India, Pakistan, the United Kingdom, China, Japan, Australia, Nepal, Iran and the former Yugoslavia.

Photo: Courtesy

"City of Memories" will remain open to visitors until Saturday, 29 November 2025. The exhibition can be viewed from Monday to Saturday, 11am to 8pm, at Alliance Française de Dhaka, House 8, Road 7, Gulshan 1.