Yasmin Jahan Nupur

Yasmin Jahan Nupur (b. 1979) is a multidisciplinary visual and performance artist based in
Bangladesh. Her practice explores memory, land, ecology, and lived experience, functioning as a
living palimpsest where oral histories, inherited legacies, and material processes intersect. Working
across textile, embroidery, batik, mixed media and performance, she investigates the relationship
between material, labor, and storytelling, while expanding her role beyond a singular maker to that of
researcher and collaborator, engaging communities and shared knowledge systems.
Nupur’s work reflects a deep engagement with place, understood not as fixed geography but as a
layered site of cultural and emotional memory. Through slow, process-based methods and traditional
craft practices, she reinterprets inherited knowledge into contemporary forms. Central to her inquiry is
the politics of the archive, questioning who constructs narratives, which voices are preserved, and
what remains excluded. Addressing identity, displacement, and environmental transformation, her
work brings together archaeological references and contemporary urgencies, creating a dialogue
between past and future, permanence and fragility.
Nupur has participated in exhibitions and collaborative projects, including the Kochi-Muziris
Biennale 2025-2026 where her work was widely noted for its poetic and layered sensibility. Her
practice specifically examines the politico-economic history of black pepper and other spices, tracing
their evolution from a form of medieval currency to highly sought-after commodities that drove
maritime trade and colonial expansion.
She was awarded the Grand Prize at the Asian Art Biennale in 2022. Her works are held in significant
collections, including Tate Modern, UK and the Whitworth Art Gallery, UK.
Her work “Let me get you a nice cup of tea” in the Tate Modern collection reflects her ongoing
engagement with histories of trade, colonial exchange and intimate rituals through which these global
narrative are lived and remembered.
She continues to develop research-driven, site-responsive projects engaging with local histories, oral
traditions, and community-based practices.