Bangladeshi contemporary artist Soma Surovi Jannat is set to present her first UK solo exhibition at the Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford, marking the first solo show of a Bangladesh-based artist at a UK museum. Titled Soma Surovi Jannat: Climate Culture Care, it is part of the Ashmolean NOW series and will open in March 2026.
Curated by Mallica Kumbera Landrus, Keeper of Eastern Art and curator of South Asian Art, the exhibition features around 40 works in total, including 21 of Soma’s own artworks created between 2023 and 2025. The rest of the works are the original collections of the museum, which inspired the artist and those will also be showcased alongside her 21 artworks.
The exhibition addresses global environmental issues through a South Asian lens. Many works draw inspiration from the Sundarbans, the world’s largest mangrove forest spanning southern Bangladesh and India’s West Bengal, home to the endangered Bengal tiger and nearly 13 million people. Facing intensifying cyclones and rising sea levels, the communities of the Sundarbans demonstrate resilience rooted in culture and environment. Surovi’s works reflect both the beauty and fragility of this landscape, highlighting how climate change exacerbates social inequalities.
Speaking to The Times of Bangladesh, Surovi said: “I am honoured to announce my solo exhibition at the Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford. This is a new chapter in my journey as an artist; I have worked towards it with all my heart. Grateful beyond words.”
Notable works include Resensitizing the Brown Narrative (2023), inspired by clay caste figures in the Ashmolean collection, and the eight-part series Where Every Leaf Holds a Tale (2023–24), reflecting on mangrove decline, intertwined roots, and carbon capture. A nearly ten-meter scroll, Between the Sea and the Sky, Who Holds the Ground?, portrays plants, animals, insects, and humans under climate threat.
In She Carries the River in Her Skin (2026), an ephemeral wall drawing, she examines the disproportionate impact of climate change on women and children. Inspired by Nalini Malani, the composition unfolds like a wave, with five boats symbolising the burdens women face in climate-vulnerable communities.
Xa Sturgis, Director of the Ashmolean Museum, said: “We hope and anticipate that this exhibition, unique in its scope and approach, will stimulate discussions around Bangladesh and its contemporary art, as we celebrate the country’s 55th anniversary this year.”
“The Frere Hall South Asia-based artist-in-residence programme, generously supported by Seher and Taimur Hassan, provided both the artist and the exhibition’s curator, Mallica Kumbera Landrus, with the time and space to engage in exploratory conversations around our collections. What emerges from this collaboration is a dialogue full of surprising visual similarities and differences that celebrates creativity, displays exceptional artistry and is informed by curatorial curiosity and expertise,” according to Sturgis.
The exhibition is produced in partnership with Seher and Taimur Hassan; British Council Bangladesh; Samdani Art Foundation; Sotheby’s; Neha & Sumedh Jaiswal via Goldman Sachs Gives; Gallery Espace, New Delhi; and the Charles Wallace Bangladesh Trust.
Born in 1990, Surovi’s multidisciplinary practice spans drawing, painting, installation, and video. Her work arises from a deep engagement with nature, shaped by plein air sketching in villages across Bangladesh and India. She received the Samdani Art Award and Young Artist Award in 2020 and has exhibited internationally, including Colomboscope 2024 in Sri Lanka, Kora Contemporary Arts Center in Italy, the Serendipity Arts Festival in Goa, and the 7th Beijing International Art Biennale.
