Project 88 is pleased to announce that Munem Wasif is the inaugural Ashmolean Samdani Visiting Artist at the University of Oxford.
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The Ashmolean Museum and the Samdani Art Foundation have announced a new partnership supporting contemporary art and artists from Bangladesh, the first sustained programme of its kind at a major international institution.
The partnership establishes the Ashmolean Samdani Visiting Artist Programme, which will bring a Bangladeshi artist to Oxford each year to spend two weeks at the Ashmolean. It will also support the development of the Museum’s collection of contemporary art from Bangladesh, with new works entering the collection over the coming years.
Munem Wasif has been appointed the inaugural Ashmolean Samdani Visiting Artist and will be in Oxford as part of the programme from 26 September to 13 October 2026. An artist, curator and educator based in Dhaka, Wasif works across photography, moving image, archival material and collected objects.
During his two weeks at the Ashmolean, Wasif will spend time with the Department of Eastern Art, exploring the Museum’s collections and archives and exchanging ideas with its curators.
Munem Wasif said:
'For years, my practice has returned to the colonial history of Bengal, often through the fragments that remain. The Ashmolean Samdani Visiting Artist gives me a chance to look at this history more closely, through the Museum’s collections and archives. I’m interested in encountering objects and artworks first-hand and seeing how they might connect with questions I have been exploring through photography, prints, and textiles.' (Note the artworks below by Wasif are not part of the Museum's collection.)
