‘A History of Bangladesh’ at the Oriental Museum

Leading on from our session on Sikhism earlier this year, BSDC returned to the Oriental Museum with our Creative Health group to explore the culture and history of Bangladesh. We supported local writer and radio presenter, Shamima Sultana, to facilitate a workshop responding to the museum’s new exhibition, ‘A History of Bangladesh in 25 Objects’, offering her a safe platform to engage with the wider community.

2026 to 2027

Exploring the Exhibition

The session began with a tour of the exhibition, led by Charlotte Spink, the Oriental Museum’s Learning Coordinator. Shamima, who had visited the exhibition previously as part of her research, contributed her own insights as a member of the Bangladeshi community, helping the group from our monthly Creative Health workshops understand how this history continues to shape Bangladeshi culture today.

Shila Laskar, a community organiser from South Shields, joined us remotely, along with several other community representatives from the region. This laid the foundations for future work with the South Shields Bangladeshi community, enabling us to arrange for a group of Bangladeshi women and children to visit the Oriental Museum later in the month.

Although we at BSDC have explored many other areas of Asia through our work, this was the first time we had engaged directly with the history of Bangladesh. Our new understanding has already informed our work in South Shields, helping us build bridges between cultural institutions and the diverse communities they serve.

Creative Workshop

The second part of the session took a more creative approach, as Shamima treated the group to a reading of her original poetry. Much of Shamima’s poetry focussed on the cultural significance of bangles, an object featured in the exhibition. BSDC dancer, Devika Rao, responded with a dance performance which involved offering the group bangles from her own jewellery collection to hold and examine up close.

Object Handling

The day ended with an opportunity to handle Bangladeshi objects from the museum’s archives, led by BSDC storyteller, Adam Strickson. Having learnt about their uses and histories, the group spent some time designing their own illustrations, inspired by the museum’s objects. Overall, the session was not only an opportunity to learn, but to feel creatively energised.

Workshop

Shamima Sultana

Photographers

Balbir Singh
Elia Tomé
Morgan Girvin

Dancer

Devika Rao

Storyteller

Adam Strickson

Oriental Museum

Charlotte Spink