"Rickshaw Project"

South Asian Gallery, Manchester Museum, UK

The Manchester Museum in the United Kingdom, in collaboration with the British Museum, has reopened with the first-ever permanent South Asia Gallery in the UK. The gallery showcases the diverse histories and experiences of the South Asian diaspora, including Bangladesh. One of the notable highlights is a rickshaw imported from Bangladesh. The gallery was co-curated by the South Asia Gallery Collective, a group of 30 inspiring individuals, including community leaders, educators, artists, historians, newspersons, and musicians.

Lead Artist from the UK: Daya Bhatti

Artist from Bangladesh: Z. A. Saleh Zebermai

As part of its permanent collection, the South Asian Gallery acquired two Rickshaws from Bangladesh, which were integrated into a collaborative art project involving artists from both Bangladesh and the UK, along with the SAG collective and the mentorship of Uronto.

The partnership between the British Council, Manchester Museum, and the Uronto Artist Community has successfully woven a series of narratives connected with British Asian and South Asian cultures into a remarkable illustration painted on the rickshaws.

The Rickshaw Painting  features elements of common culture, including architectural representations such as houses in South Asia and British visuals like Redbrick buildings, the Cotton Mill, and the Beetham Tower. It also includes various cultural symbols such as the Curry Mile, a Fast Fashion Shop with mannequins, the China Town Building, a Fast Fashion factory with workers on sewing machines, the Makara shape representing water, the spinning wheel, a barren cotton field symbolizing cotton export, the Memorial Cenotaph Sri Lanka, and the Manchester Memorial.