MAJHI INTERNATIONAL ART RESIDENCY 2023

Paris, France

Durjoy Bangladesh Foundation (DBF) is thrilled to announce the launch of the Majhi International Art Residency 2023, set to unfold in the captivating city of Paris from 7 – 23 October 2023. This edition marks the latest chapter in DBF’s ongoing commitment to bridging the art communities from the East and the West.


During this two-week residency in the City of Light, three selected artists of Asia and the Asian diaspora— Rajyashri Goody, Raisa Kabir, Aiko Tezuka will embark on a journey of artistic exploration. They will be commissioned to create new and unique artworks that will serve as a testament to their artistic research and cultural exchange. The culmination of their artistic endeavors will be showcased in a curated group exhibition, offering a glimpse into the creative practices of these international artists. The residency and exhibition is under the direction and curation of Paris-based guest curator Ricko Leung.


The Majhi International Art Residency, born from the concept of a migrating residency throughout Europe, is arriving in the heart of Paris this year after successfully engaging the art scenes of Venice, Berlin, and Eindhoven since its inception in 2019.

Textile and Indigo

Guest Curator: Ricko Leung

Participating Artists:

Rajyashri Goody (India), Raisa Kabir (UK), Aiko Tezuka (Japan),

Venue: Asia Now Paris Asian Art Fair, Monnaie de Paris, 11 Quai de Conti, 75006 Paris

Dates: 19–22 October 2023 (vernissage on 19 October)

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Participants’ Biographies

Ricko Leung

Guest Curator

Born and raised in Hong Kong, Ricko Leung is an independent curator and visual artist living and working in Paris since 2014. Drawing inspiration from her multicultural identity, her curatorial and artistic practices delve into topics such as fear and control, cultural identity and post-colonialism, as well as eco-feminism. Ricko has curated several exhibitions in Paris and in Greece. Besides, she has published a large number of art critique articles and interviews of various artists, curators, and art collectors.
Website: arteverglow.wordpress.com | Instagram: @smilericko

Raisa Kabir

Artist, Textiles Researcher and Weaver

Raisa Kabir is an artist, textiles researcher and weaver based in London. Kabir utilises woven text/textiles, sound, video and performance to materialise concepts concerning the interwoven cultural politics of cloth, archives of the body and colonial geographies. Kabir’s (un)weaving performances use queer entanglement to comment on structures of trans- national power, global production, and the relationships between craft and industrial labour. Her work speaks to cultural anxieties surrounding nationhood, textile identities and the cultivation of borders. She has exhibited work internationally at; The Whitworth, The Tetley, Arnolfini, Liverpool Biennial, CCA Glasgow, British Textile Biennial, Ford Foundation Gallery New York, The Craft Council London, India Art Fair, HH Art Spaces Goa, Raven Row, Glasgow International, and The Center for Craft Creativity and Design N.C. Kabir has lectured on her research at Tate Modern, ICA London, The Courtauld, and the V&A.

Website: raisakabir.com | Instagram: @raisa_kabir_textiles | Interview

Aiko Tezuka

b. 1976

Born in Tokyo, Japan in 1976, Aiko Tezuka lives in Berlin, Germany since 2011 and is mainly active in Berlin and Tokyo. Ever since 1997, Tezuka embarked on a type of work that unravels readymade fabric. She has continued to create new structural forms by referring to and editing historical objects, using unique methods of her own. She completed a PhD in Painting in 2005 at the Art Research Department of Kyoto City University of Arts, Kyoto, Japan (studied under painter Usami Keiji). Her work has been exhibited across Europe and Asia: The Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (Japan); The National Art Center, Tokyo (Japan); TextielMuseum (Netherlands); National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Korea (Seoul, Korea); Turner Contemporary (UK); Museum of Asian Art (Berlin, Germany): Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg (Germany); Kunsthalle Mannheim (Germany); and Rijksmuseum (Netherlands) among others.
Website: aikotezuka.com | Instagram: @aikotezuka

Rajyashri Goody

b. 1990

Rajyashri Goody (b. 1990) is from Pune, India, and currently works between the Netherlands and India. Goody completed her BA in Sociology at Fergusson College in Pune in 2011, and an MA in Visual Anthropology at the Granada Centre for Visual Anthropology at the University of Manchester, UK in 2013. She was a resident at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten, Amsterdam between 2021 and 2023. Goody’s art practice is informed by her academic background and her Ambedkarite Dalit roots. She is interested in creating space and time for thinking through everyday instances of caste-based violence and Dalit resistance, and how elements like food, nature, language and literacy are actively used as tools to enforce caste rules for generations. Goody incorporates various mediums in her practice – text, voice, paper pulp, ceramics, photography, printmaking, video and installation.
Website: rajyashrigoody.com | Instagram: @rajgoody

2023 Curatorial Concept

Textile and Indigo | CURATED BY Ricko Leung
The curatorial theme of the residency this year and the end-of-residency exhibition will be around the history and conceptual meaning of indigo. It is a material very closely tied to the colonial history of Bengal (much of which now forms current Bangladesh), the origin of DBF. Meanwhile, it is a pigment that has a very close relationship with textile, which coincide with one of the focuses of our venue partner Asia Now Paris Asian Art Fair. Selected artists are invited to explore the connection between plant and textile as well as the historical or cultural meanings of the blue colour.

About Durjoy Bangladesh Foundation (DBF)

Durjoy Bangladesh Foundation (DBF) is a non-profit private foundation established by Durjoy Rahman in 2018, with a mission to support and promote art from South Asia and beyond in a critical, international art context.

Its projects and programming cultivate and present rigorous artistic and socially responsible practices through exhibitions, commissions, residencies, community engagement programmes and publications, with the aim of developing new dialogues, narratives and interconnections between home-based and diaspora South Asian artists and the international cultural community.

These goals are strengthened by fruitful synergies with cross-platform cultural Partners globally, including educational and governmental institutions, museums, foundations and non-profits, art fairs and art festivals, community platforms and charities.