Being a multidisciplinary visual artist, Nargis Poly is mostly engaged with drawing, painting and Installation art. She completed her B.A (Hons) and M.A in English Literature from the University of Chittagong. After her post-graduation, she decided to start her art journey and create her own language. She believes that being an artist is something that is innate rather than something that can be learned in school, therefore she learned via hands-on experience, trial and error, and the best teacher is one’s own self. Over the decade, she has shown her work at home and abroad. Poly’s art is fueled by her own dynamic and bold style, which is motivated by her own life experiences. Her work blurs the barrier between reality and abstraction. Poly’s paintings pivot around the feeling and belief that the essence of a painting may vary greatly in color and content the way an individual viewer’s perspective entails, which ends up unfolding the skin of a living thought. Her inquisitive mind explores diverse artistic and intellectual avenues, and she never retracts from experimenting in her own style. Poly never loses sight of a snowball effect of paintings preempting corruption of the privileged class and social injustice. Viewers can vouch for her analytic mind and hardworking ethos as an artist to see her creations along with her pleasant demeanor. Nargis Poly is a Dhaka-based artist who also works as a Fine art conservator.

“A glass of cold water —I painted my very first painting as a child. A transparent glass with a lot of water droplets outside and frigid water inside—I can’t define or explain why this scene appealed to my impressionistic imagination immensely enough to inspire my painting. Water droplets are still shown in my paintings in many ways since they have been ingrained in the inner recesses of my soul throughout. Painting has always been my passion, and I’ve always longed for the opportunity to be an artist. In line with this, I wished to study fine arts, but my parents encouraged me to get a degree in English literature instead, under the impression that literature could help inspire me to the fullest in my creation through paintings. Putting confidence in their advice, I began studying English literature, and as the days passed, I realized that my parents’ decision came as a godsend and began incorporating elements of literature and philosophy into my artwork. I also thanked my parents. There are a few interesting passages from one of my favorite books, “The Zoo Story” by Edward Albee, that I can share with you. In the book, the protagonist, Jerry, was explaining his situation to another character, Peter, when he said, “Sometimes it’s necessary to go a long distance out of the way in order to come back a short distance correctly.” This phrase, I believe, accurately describes my life as well. To establish myself as an artist, I have journeyed for over four decades. It’s comparable to knowing how to appropriately return from a long distance to a short distance. I never stop doing art since it’s my sole outlet. I educate myself every day as I discover new things. My only pupil is me. It is not required to be versed in literature and philosophy to comprehend my art. My art has a simple expression of the five senses and sometimes goes beyond that. You may find depths of realistic and abstract depictions of benevolence and grief. All you have to do is relax when diving into those depths. “