'Inheritance' by Mita Chowdhury

'Inheritance' by Mita Chowdhury

  • 08 Apr 2026 - 01 May 2026
  • 02:00am - 08:00am
  • FREE
  • First Site Gallery
| Storey Hall Basement, 344 Swanston Street, Melbourne
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Formed through slow, meditative processes of hand-stitching, wrapping and dyeing, 'Inheritance' weaves together Chowdhury’s lived experiences as a first-generation Bangladeshi-Australian artist.

Inheritance is an immersive installation that transforms everyday materials into vessels of memory, care and connection. Through fragile yet grounded forms made from broken gum tree branches, turmeric and handwoven Bangladeshi Khadi, the work explores how making can hold and pass on inherited stories across generations and geographies. Inheritance invites visitors into a space where belonging, displacement and care become intertwined acts of resistance.

Please join us to celebrate the opening of this exhibition at First Site Gallery, 5– 7pm, Wednesday 8 April. ⁠

Mita Chowdhury is an interdisciplinary artist and PhD candidate at RMIT University, Melbourne. Born in the river delta region of Bangladesh, her early life was shaped by the shifting rivers that made her family climate migrants within the country. This experience informs her decolonial practice exploring first-generation Bangladeshi-Australian identity.

Her practice engages feminist epistemologies and diaspora studies to investigate migration, memory and tacit knowledge as active sites of inquiry. Her practice also explores socially engaged art making with marginalised communities—particularly migrant and women's groups—positioning art-making as a space for belonging. Employing non-western methods of making, she explores embodied knowledge and language as tools for cultural preservation and connection.

Chowdhury has exhibited at the 2022 Asian Art Biennial (Dhaka) and in numerous solo exhibitions since 2021. Chowdhury received the RMIT Cultural Vision Scholarship (2022) and the Young and Emerging Artist Award from ADFAS Yarra (2023).

Image: Mita Chowdhury, 'The Fugitive Archive-1' (detail), 2025, Bangladeshi handloom Khadi, old sari, found gum tree branch and cotton threads. Image courtesy of the artist.

Opening Hours

11am - 5pm Tuesday to Friday

Closed on public holidays

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