The Artist as a Rebel

If you go through Moumita Basak’s CV, it will tell you that she completed her bachelor's in Fine Arts (BFA) from Government College of Art and Craft, under University of Calcutta, followed by her master’s degree from the same institution. It will tell you she has received a host of scholarships and awards at the state, national and international levels, including a gold medal from the International Textile Triennial in Central Museum of Textile in Lodz, Poland (2022) and the Inlaks Fine Art Award (2026). It will tell you her works have been displayed at prestigious exhibitions in India and abroad, including the Kochi Students’ Biennale (2021) and Richard Saltoun Gallery in London (2024). And that she has been selected for residency programmes in cities as diverse as Kolkata and Salhus, Norway.

- -Jasodhara Banerjee

Moumita Basak (29)

Artist

What her CV will not tell you is that a teenage Basak rebelled against her family, and applied for her BFA with help from her friends and without her family's knowledge; that she would tell her family she is going for tuition classes, and, instead, go for her for admission interview—about 30 km from her home in Srirampur to Kolkata. And, finally, once she gained admission, she would simply land up in college, call her family and tell them she is not coming home anymore. This, not to pursue an ambition of becoming rich and famous, but to follow her passion of becoming an artist.