A 10-day exhibition titled “Sakra’s Tanti Bazar” by artist, collector and curator Tahmina Shaily is underway at Dwip Gallery in the capital’s Lalmatia area.
Depicting Dhaka’s traditional jewellery and stories of goldsmiths, the exhibition features a massive collection of traditional jewellery with the age-old tools used by the artisans to make jewelleries collected by Tahmina Shaily over the past decade.

10-day show ‘Sakra’s Tanti Bazar’ at Dwip GalleryThe event also shows how the once vibrant industry in Old Dhaka, particularly at Tanti Bazar, is now withering.

The exhibition also comprises interviews of the goldsmiths, many of whom learnt their trade from their fathers, are facing challenges from industrialised jewellery production that has created risk for this legacy.      

Actually, “Sakra’s Tanti Bazar” shines a spotlight on the goldsmiths of Dhaka’s historic Tanti Bazar, revealing the intricacies of their craft and the weight of their stories. These artisans, who have toiled quietly for years, bring not only their technical expertise but also the narratives of survival, migration, and legacy to this exhibition.

About the exhibition, Tahmina Shaily said, “Tanti Bazar was the place of my jewelry making in the beginning. Moving around the country to see the artisans’ work–getting the expected product after a long exercise with ‘sakras’–lunch of ‘dal-bhat’–‘cha-beguni’, happiness-sadness–together makes the feeling of my jewelry.”

“Much later through that journey, I discovered that Tanti Bazar is the only place in Dhaka that brings peace in my mind, whenever I have been there. I don’t know how the impression of an overcrowded, noisy, narrow alley expresses its different meaning to me? That is an amazing place with the scent of incense, sandalwood, and agarbattis crafted piles of gold jewelries every day in some small, damp, and dark rooms”, she added.

Began on 10 October, the ten-day exhibition will continue from 4:00pm to 9:00pm till 19 October.