The Tate has announced the shortlist for the Turner Prize 2008. Among them is British-Bangladeshi artist Runa Islam. She is nominated for two solo exhibitions in Norway and a showing of her work at the Venice Biennale 2007 in Italy.
The judges said "Islam's works manage to be at once analytical and emotionally-charged, formal and socially relevant".
Independent film with a focus on British-Bangladeshi remittances and foreign-aid, and their impact on British and Bangladeshi society.
- By far, the largest overseas Bangladeshi communities that have settled in the West are in the UK (and increasingly the US,) with well over a quarter of a million people of Bangladeshi origin living in Britain.
- The total value of remittances sent by expatriates to the developing world was conservatively estimated to exceed $80 billion last year. As members of the largest overseas Bangladeshi community in the developed world, we have a particularly poignant interest in this topic.
- Remittances are conservatively estimated to contribute at least 4% of Bangladesh's GDP and have directly helped Bangladesh's balance of payments by contributing around a third of its foreign exchange needs. In monetary terms, remittance income is larger as a net gain than the near $5 billion foreign exchange earnings earned by the ready-made garment (RMG) sector, because the latter figure is significantly reduced when adjusted for the cost of materials and tax breaks.
Excerpts from a Memorandum submitted by the British Bangladeshi International Development Group (BBIDG) to the Select-Committee.
