Published: 12:04 AM, 22 August 2026
Shapla Singha: Carrying the Stories of the Sundarbans to the World
This striking 60×20-foot painting by artist Shapla Singha, portraying the Sundarbans’ extinct wildlife—the Javan rhinoceros, wild buffalo, swamp deer and hog deer.
Shapla Singha is a promising Bangladeshi artist whose work has quietly earned recognition beyond the country’s borders. Far from the spotlight, she has been pursuing ambitious artistic and research initiatives that place Bangladesh’s cultural heritage, environmental challenges and human stories at the centre of a wider global conversation.
One of the most significant chapters of her work has been her extensive research on the Sundarbans, the world’s largest mangrove forest. Her research explores how communities live in and around the forest to sustain their livelihoods, how climate change and environmental degradation are reshaping their lives, and how local people adapt to increasingly challenging ecological conditions.
A particularly important focus has been the lives of the forest’s ‘Baghbidhaba’ (tiger widows)—women who have lost their husbands to tiger attacks—and their struggle to survive within a complex social, economic and environmental landscape.
From March to December 2023, Shapla spent approximately nine months conducting immersive field research in the Sundarbans as part of a project undertaken with the NGO WildTeam. Her groundbreaking contribution to the Sundarbans was the development of the Sundarbans Interpretation Centre (SIC), the first initiative in Bangladesh aimed at presenting the forest’s biodiversity, history and ecological significance while strengthening conservation awareness and public engagement. Shapla drew inspiration for the concept of this interpretation centre from the Holématthi Nature Foundation.
Shapla led a 25-member team comprising artists, graduate artists and students associated with Khulna University. Over the course of the project, the team travelled through remote parts of the Sundarbans, documenting the lives, cultures and survival strategies of local communities. Shapla transformed these observations into paintings, 3D designs and documentary work, creating a visual record of a landscape and its people facing profound environmental pressures.
Her research highlighted several overlooked realities of life in the coastal forest region, including the impact of salinity on women’s reproductive health, the prevalence of child marriage and the complex reasons communities continue to remain in the Sundarbans despite severe environmental and economic hardships. Her work seeks not merely to document these realities but to transform them through painting and visual storytelling.
Among her major artistic contributions was a 6,000-square-foot mural for the Sundarbans Interpretation Centre, of which she completed approximately 3,000 square feet of painting. She also produced a range of 3D designs and artworks inspired by the forest. During her fieldwork, she collected rare tiger footprints from the Sundarbans, which were subsequently presented at a recent international exhibition in Paris.
For Shapla, the Sundarbans project was both an artistic achievement and a demanding professional journey. She recalls that the original agreement envisaged completing the work within two months. However, as the scope of the project expanded, the team ultimately worked for nearly nine months, facing significant logistical challenges in travelling to, living in and working across the forest’s remote locations.
According to Shapla, the increased scope and duration of the project resulted in substantially higher transportation, accommodation, food and other logistical costs. She says the matter was informed to the relevant authorities, including Project Chief Professor Anwarul Islam and that the team requested a revision of the project budget. She says they were assured that the budget would be adjusted accordingly and continued working to complete and hand over the assigned artworks.
Shapla says, however, that the artists did not receive additional remuneration corresponding to the expanded scope and duration of the work. She describes the experience as deeply disappointing, arguing that when a project’s responsibilities, workload and duration increase substantially, the additional time, labour and professional expertise of artists should be appropriately recognised and compensated.
Despite the challenges, Shapla regards the nine-month journey as one of the most significant experiences of her life. She adds: “The Sundarbans is the lungs of Bangladesh. At a time of escalating climate crisis, if we want to protect Bangladesh, we must first protect the Sundarbans. I spent nine months there conducting research, living and working amid difficult conditions and confronting challenges related to accommodation, food and transportation. Yet I feel a deep sense of fulfilment knowing that I was able to contribute, even in a small way, to the protection and understanding of the Sundarbans.”
She also adds: “The Sundarbans is like a mother to us. I want to continue working for its protection and bring its untold and unseen stories to people around the world.”
Shapla’s efforts have already taken those stories beyond Bangladesh. At a recent international exhibition in Paris, she presented the Sundarbans to the international audiences representing 180 countries. Her catalogue Listening to the Sundarbans and documentary Her Salt, Her Soul: Motherly Mangrove (23:45 m) were presented at prominent cultural and academic venues in Paris, including Maison des Langues et des Cultures d’Aubervilliers, BULAC/INALCO and Université Paris 8–CITIES.
Shapla Singha has been serving as an Assistant Professor in the Drawing and Painting Discipline at the Fine Arts School of Khulna University since December 2019. She earned her Master’s degree in Visual Arts (Painting) from Rabindra Bharati University, India, in 2019, securing second merit position with a CGPA of 8.90 out of 10.00. She previously completed her Bachelor’s degree in Drawing and Painting from Khulna University in 2016, securing first merit position with an impressive CGPA of 3.92 out of 4.00.
An accomplished visual artist and emerging voice in contemporary Bangladeshi art, Shapla has participated as an invited young artist in international exhibitions and artistic programmes across India, Sri Lanka, China, Thailand, Germany, the Netherlands and France. Her work engages with pressing themes including climate crisis, women’s resilience and the ecological significance of the Sundarbans.
Her artwork Message for Peace, created to commemorate the centenary of the Communist Party of China, received the Dreamland China Appreciation Award from the Chinese Embassy in Bangladesh. In 2024, several of her paintings portraying the Bangladesh Liberation War and the 1971 genocide were acquired by the Bangladesh National Museum. She has also created a remarkable diorama at the 1971 Genocide Museum in Khulna, further underscoring her commitment to preserving Bangladesh’s historical memory through visual art.
Shapla’s artistic practice extends beyond the Sundarbans. She is currently involved in efforts to preserve Bangladesh’s heritage and archaeological legacy, promote awareness of women’s rights and address illiteracy among disadvantaged women. One of her long-term ambitions is to contribute to the digitisation of museums across Bangladesh, making the country’s cultural heritage more accessible to future generations and to audiences around the world. At the heart of her work is a conviction that art can do more than create beauty: it can preserve memory, document social realities, amplify marginalised voices and inspire action on environmental and cultural issues.
Through her paintings, research, documentary work and community engagement, Shapla Singha is gradually building a distinctive artistic voice—one rooted deeply in Bangladesh yet increasingly visible on the international stage. Her journey represents not only the story of an artist but also that of a woman committed to carrying the country’s cultural and ecological heritage beyond its borders.
For many young women in Bangladesh, Shapla Singha’s work offers an example of how artistic practice can become a form of service, advocacy and social responsibility. Her journey deserves recognition—and, above all, continued support as she works to tell Bangladesh’s stories to the world.
Shapla is a symbol of inspiration for women in our society. My heartfelt best wishes and unwavering support for Shapla will always remain.
Emran Emon is an eminent
journalist, columnist and global
affairs analyst. He can be reached
