contact.laisulhoque@gmail.com
An Ode to All the Flavours
2023
The Purpose was to Document the Other Side
2024
I don’t Call Enough But I’m Here Now
2022
I Wish I Could Tell You Exactly How I Feel
Education
Philosophies, Central Saint Martins, UAL, London
Awards
Exhibitions and Screenings
(* indicates solo)(30th January - 13th April)
(as part of CIRCA Prize)
Press/Reviews
The Daily Star (BD) by Tasrifa Trisha
Writing
Talks/Panels
(video link)
I don’t Call Enough But I’m Here Now, 2024
a solo exhibition by Laisul Hoque, curated by Jannat Hussain
Exhibition view of The Purpose Was to Document the Other Side (2023)
The Purpose Was to Document the Other Side is a short film by Laisul Hoque, capturing the artist’s mother’s journey to London. The film is recorded on a camera initially purchased by the artist’s father in 2004 to document his European journey when he couldn’t bring his family along. Informed by the exploration of intimate conversation, the film compares the artist’s upbringing with that of his mother, addressing generational trauma and confronting emotional distance from his father. Through this documentary, the artist engages in the powerful act of curating their narrative together—vulnerable and emotional. It presents a compelling example of reclaiming personal and familial stories in the face of external threats.
By deciding to record and hold these footages in the camera that his father used, the artist gives his mother a space to place her narrative, where originally it would be only his father’s and the artist’s. At the end of the film, the artist hands the camera to his mother, providing her with a means to contribute to the narrative. This action also serves as a nod to Cinematography by Runa Islam, the inaugural film/artwork where intertextuality was incorporated into the camera movement.
Exhibition view of How to Translate a Proverb (2023)
This work is composed of performance video documentation and an audio recording device. In the chest of drawers sits the recording device holding a compilation of conversations between the artist and his friends.
Four drawers are pulled out, indicating the four years of Laisul’s artistic practice present in the space. The top drawer holds the essay providing insights on the performance and instructions for using the audio device.
In How to Translate a Proverb (2023) the audience saw the entirety of your body in the space as you exerted yourself, breaking into a sweat. Scored by the audio recordings of the conversations, the documentation involved instructing the curator to use a camcorder tethered to a projector, directing the audience’s gaze to your forehead and your feet. So, what we see in this show is essentially something you extracted from the live performance that took place on that day. In a way, it feels like you made yourself the proverb.
- Excerpt from exhibition text: A conversation between Laisul and Jannat.
Exhibition view of I Wish I Could Tell You Exactly How I Feel (fluorescent tubes x2, coated in heat-sensitive paint, 2022)
The heat from the fluorescent lights causes the paint to disappear—revealing the original tube when turned on, and slowly turning black as they cool down when turned off.
The work is inspired by the artist’s inability to openly communicate with his family.
That’s where visible light and heat came into play… I noticed how the black ink was the darkest at the start of the day, and throughout the day, the light bulb gets lighter and lighter. It never goes back to the blackness it had at the start of the day. And I find that to be metaphorical of progress and how we see relationships.
- Excerpt from exhibition text: A conversation between Laisul and Jannat.
Exhibition view of Untitled, Dhaka (giclee print on archival paper, aluminium framed, 2019)