Sabyasachi Hazra Unpacks Life, Typography and 4000 Book Covers at Gallery Cosmos Event

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Publish : 20 Sep 2026, 05:40 PM

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For artist Sabyasachi Hazra, creative expression extends beyond canvas and gallery walls, weaving through personal recollection, camaraderie, adversity, and daily life during an unhurried artistic evolution revisited Saturday at 'Contemplation: An Unhurried Journey Through Art, Purpose and Life', the 12th Cosmos Art Echo session hosted by Gallery Cosmos and Cosmos Atelier71 at Malibagh's Cosmos Centre and moderated by artistic director Sourav Chowdhury.

Opening with a retrospective of his early childhood in Khulna and formative six years in Itna village, Lohagara, Narail, Sabyasachi screened the 11-minute documentary Hazrabari, reflecting on family history and noting, "My grandmother, whom I never saw, was shot dead in this very Hazrabari in 1971 during the Liberation War. Although I never met her, I can still feel her presence whenever I return to the house."

Teenage years introduced political literature via a communist mentor, wall-writing, and poster design, framing his background through the sentiment that "growing up was connected with Narail, Khulna was where I had a deep love and with Dhaka it was an 'arranged marriage'."

Moving into Jagannath Hall after enrolling at Dhaka University's Institute of Fine Arts placed Aziz Super Market's bookshops and little magazines at his creative core, yielding roughly 250 designed magazine covers and teaching him that "adversity brings out the best in people."

While fine arts peers gravitated toward singing, recitation, or acting, Sabyasachi found theatrical affinity working with Prachyanat alongside Short Film Forum screenwriting engagements, Moviyana Film Society ties and Russian Cultural Centre or Goethe-Institut interactions.

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BUET-student brother connections exposed him to compositional experiments, reinforcing that "design has never seemed less important to me than an artwork."

Rejecting artist's block as an unaffordable luxury given limited lifespan, he draws subjects from cinema, music, theatre, and surroundings, asserting "I have learnt the most from my surroundings, my friends and people younger than me, through conversations with them. Perhaps I learnt only 10 percent from textbooks."

Specializing in book-cover design since 2000, Sabyasachi has built a portfolio of nearly 4,000 published works alongside theatre, film, and advocacy posters for Syed Jamil Ahmed's 4.48 Montrash, Ami Birangona Bolchi, Mayer Mukh, Agunjatra, and Gulmohor.

Mentored by figures like Khaled Chowdhury, Purnendu Pattrea, Kazi Hasan Habib, Qayyum Chowdhury, and Kamrul Hassan, his editorial and authorial collaborators span Dhruva Esh—of whom he noted, "Dhruva Esh is the only writer who, to this day, has never seen a book cover I designed for him before its publication"—iftekhar Mahmud, Syed Manzoorul Islam, Anisuzzaman, Joy Goswami, Syed Shamsul Haq, Nirmalendu Goon, and Humayun Ahmed.

Bangla script typography anchors volumes including Chitralipi (2015), Rong Tulite Chopchap (2018), In the Quest of Bangla Typography(2022), edited collection Bangla Namer Desher Galpo (2023) and Bornomala, collecting eight primers from 1849 to 1948.

Campus wall installations and companionship with Kalidas Karmakar, Rahul Anand, Animesh Aich, Mezbhaur Rahman Sumon, Kanak Aditya, and Shibu Kumar Shil reinforce a shared ethos where "none of us ever thought we would become popular."

Multifaceted paintings address sociopolitical themes and women's narratives alongside early abstract-mythological studies. Concluding the talk, Hazra unpacked personal keepsakes—a handmade horse figurine, a self-crafted pen, a childhood aunt-gifted mould, and a nakshi kantha handkerchief—voicing hope for their memory's endurance.

Gallery Cosmos founder Enayetullah Khan closed the session highlighting art's capacity to navigate crisis and presenting Sabyasachi with the second edition of The Bangladesh Sundarban.

With Inputs from UNB

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