Mundane
2017-ongoing
Salma Abedin Prithi
Mundane is an ongoing project (2017–present) that confronts the normalization of social violence in Bangladesh. Born and raised there, I have witnessed how freedom of expression and sovereignty are repeatedly threatened, while murder, rape, extortion, extra-judicial killings, ethnic persecution, and child abuse appear daily in newspapers and social media—met too often with silence or indifference.
This work brings together texts, found images, and tableau photographs as a form of protest against our desensitization. Each image is staged within the same room, a symbolic space where real-life violence collapses into the intimacy of shared interiors and the collective psyche. By capturing moments just before or after the act, I explore the emotional and physical reverberations of violence on body and mind.
Mundane seeks to restore attention to the individuality and sovereignty of each victim, resisting the erasure of their stories and insisting on memory where forgetting has become habitual.
“This too shall pass” Art Gallery,Kamladevi Complex, Delhi
“What seems ordinary caries the deepest wounds. Mundane remembers what we try to forget.“
Bio: Salma Abedin Prithi (b. Bangladesh) is a visual artist whose practice explores memory, social violence, and the psychological weight of everyday life. Her work often combines photography, text, and archival materials to uncover hidden struggles within ordinary spaces. She has exhibited her work both locally and internationally, sharing stories rooted in Bangladesh yet resonating across borders. She has participated in the Magnum Foundation’s Social Justice Program and completed the World Press Photo Masterclass, which further shaped her approach to documentary and conceptual photography.Balancing her role as an artist and a mother, Salma continues to build a body of work that protests silence, preserves memory, and speaks to resilience
Seleted Exhibitions
2023: LOVE: Still Not the Lesser, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago
2021: “Tibro” Group Exhibition, Pathshala South Asian Media Inistitute, Dhaka, Bangladesh
2021: Chobi Mela International Photography Festival, Dhaka, Bangladesh
2020: 4 Women, Group Exhibition, Mannheimer Kunstverein, Mannheim, Germany
Education & Programs
- 2020: Joop swart masterclass, World Press Photo
- 2019: Photography and Social Justice Fellowship, Magnum Foundation
- 2017: Recipient of Women in Photography, New York (WIPNYC) Grant & Mentor Program
Concat
Email: salmaabedinprithi@gmail.com
Instragram: https://www.instagram.com/salmaabedinprithi
Salma abedin prithi 