Ashmolean Partners with Samdani Art Foundation on Bangladeshi Art

The Ashmolean Museum at the University of Oxford and the Samdani Art Foundation (SAF) in Dhaka have launched a partnership to build a dedicated collection of contemporary Bangladeshi art and bring a Bangladeshi artist to Oxford each year.

Munem Wasif, a Dhaka-based artist and curator, is the first participant in the Ashmolean Samdani Visiting Artist program. He is spending two weeks at the museum working with its collections and archives. Wasif's practice combines photography, moving image, archival materials, and found objects, and often explores impermanence, insecurity, and memory. During his residency, he will examine the colonial history of Bengal and consider how the museum's holdings might connect with his existing work.

"For years, my practice has returned to the colonial history of Bengal, often through the fragments that remain," Wasif said in a statement. "I'm interested in encountering objects and artworks firsthand, and seeing how they might connect with questions I have been exploring through photography, prints, and textiles."

The partnership gives the Ashmolean a new route to expanding its holdings of contemporary art from Bangladesh. In collaboration with SAF, the museum will acquire works by Bangladeshi artists each year. It has already purchased works by Ashfika Rahman with support from the foundation. The acquisitions will add to the Ashmolean's existing collection of South Asian art, which the museum says is among the most extensive in the UK outside London. The museum will also conduct joint research with SAF into Bangladesh's contemporary art scene.

Mallica Kumbera Landrus, curator of Indian, Himalayan, and Southeast Asian art at the Ashmolean, said the partnership would strengthen the museum's connections with Bangladeshi artists. "The museum has remarkable collections from across South Asia, and this partnership gives us an exciting opportunity to develop that story through contemporary Bangladeshi art and artists," she said.

The program builds on SAF's 15 years of supporting artists and cultural initiatives in Bangladesh and creating opportunities for artists to work internationally. The foundation, established by Nadia and Rajeeb Samdani, has backed projects including the Dhaka Art Summit and the Samdani Art Award.

Nadia Samdani, SAF's president, said the partnership extends that work into a new institutional setting. "We are proud to see this vision take shape at a world-leading institution," she said.

SAF has recently supported the first UK solo museum exhibition by a Bangladesh-based artist: Soma Surovi Jannat will present her work at the Ashmolean in March 2026. Jannat won the 2020 Samdani Art Award.

The foundation has also announced a partnership with the Kunsthalle Basel for the Samdani Art Award in November 2026, when eight finalists will take part in Regionale 27 alongside artists from the Basel region.

In Bangladesh, SAF runs Srihatta, the Samdani Art Centre and Sculpture Park in Sylhet. The center hosts artist residencies and community projects and is one of the founding organizations of Photosynthesis, an international residency network supported by the Getty Foundation. Its first Photosynthesis residency at Srihatta is due to begin in December 2026, with Indian interdisciplinary artist Himali Singh Soin.

With annual acquisitions, a yearly visiting artist, and a commissioned exhibition arriving in March 2026, the Ashmolean is positioning contemporary Bangladeshi art as a permanent feature of one of the UK's oldest university museums.