Nadia Samdani

Nadia Samdani
Nationality	British-Bangladeshi
Occupation	Art Collector, Philanthropist

Nadia Samdani (born 12 December 1981) is a British-born Bangladeshi philanthropist, art patron and collector. She is the co-founder and president of the Samdani Art Foundation, and director of the Dhaka Art Summit. She is also the director of Golden Harvest Group, a leading Bangladeshi conglomerate.^[1][2]

Philanthropy

Nadia and her husband Rajeeb Samdani were donors for the 56th International Biennale di Venezia in 2015, supporting projects by Naeem Mohaiemen and Raqs Media Collective in the main Biennale exhibition: All the World’s Futures. They have also supported Naeem Mohaiemen’s first European Solo exhibition ‘Prisoners of Shothik Itihash’ at Kunsthalle Basel, curated by Adam Szymczyk in 2014, and Bangladeshi-British artist Rana Begum’s first major institutional solo exhibition at The Parasol Unit in 2016. The support took place under their non-profit engagement, Samdani Art Foundation.^[3][4][5][6]

Nadia Samdani founded the Samdani Art Foundation in 2011 along with her husband Rajeeb Samdani. Nadia acts as the President of the foundation, which supports the work of Bangladeshi and South Asian contemporary artists and architects to increase their international exposure. As part of the initiative, the foundation runs the bi-annual Samdani Art and Architecture Awards which bring to light, the work of emerging Bangladeshi contemporary artists and architects.The Foundations other on-going initiatives include the Samdani Artist-Led Initiatives Forum and Samdani Seminars.^{[7][8][9][10][11][12]}

Mr. Alain Berset, the President of Switzerland visited Dhaka Art Summit on 7th February 2018 during his visit to Bangladesh.

Nadia and Rajeeb Samdani have announced to open Srihatta—Samdani Art Centre and Sculpture Park in late 2018.The centre is being designed by Kashef Mahboob Chowdhury, who won the Aga Khan Award in 2016.^[13][14][15]

Contribution

Nadia Samdani is a member of Tate’s South Asia Acquisitions Committee, Tate's International Council, Art Dubai’s Advisory Council, Alserkal Avenue’s Programming Committee, Parasol Unit’s International Committee and is one of the founding members of Harvard University’s Lakshmi Mittal South Asia Institute’s Arts Advisory Council. She is also the Vice- President of Alliance Française de Dhaka.^{[23][24][25][26][27]}

Nadia has contributed numerous articles about the role of the collector and arts patron within the international art scene for publications including, Art Asia Pacific, and leading business and financial daily Live Mint. She has spoken about collecting at many international art fairs and universities, including: the University of California, Berkeley; Art Basel Hong Kong; Frieze Art Fair, London; the India Art Fair; and the 2nd edition of the Private Museum Conference. In 2017, Nadia also contributed to UNESCO’s Global Report on Monitoring the 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions.^{[28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35]}

Art collection

Nadia Samdani is a second generation art collector and began her own collection at the age of 22. She collects both Bangladeshi and international art. Nadia and her husband Rajeeb Samdani’s collection includes over 2000 modern and contemporary artworks. South Asian and diaspora collection highlights include works by: Anish Kapoor; Gaganendranath Tagore; Abanindranath Tagore; Rabindranath Tagore; Huma Bhabha; Naeem Mohaiemen; Rana Begum; Raqs Media Collective; Shilpa Gupta; Shahzia Sikander; Novera Ahmed; and Zarina Hashmi, etc. International collection highlights include works by: Lynda Benglis; Chris Ofili; Alighiero Boetti; Paul Klee; Ettore Spalletti; Cindy Sherman; Marina Abramovic; Ai Weiwei; Pawel Althamer; Mona Hatoum; Philippe Parreno; Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster; Cardiff and Miller; and Anthony McCall.^{[23][36][37][38][39][40]}

Artworks from their collection have travelled to major exhibitions, such as: Documenta14 (2017); Shanghai Biennale (2017); Office for Contemporary Art, Norway (2016); Centre Pompidou, Paris (2015); Kunstsammlung Nordhrhein, Düsseldorf (2016); Gwangju Biennale, South Korea (2014); and the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, India (2014), etc.^{[41][42][43][44][45][46]}

Personal life

Nadia is married to Rajeeb Samdani who is the Managing Director of Golden Harvest Group, Co-Founder and Trustee of the Samdani Art Foundation and Dhaka Art Summit, and Chairman of Gulf International Finance Limited, UAE. They have three daughters: Radyna, Alvina and Maya. The couple is well known for their local and international art collection as well as their art philanthropy.^[47]

Acknowledgement

Nadia and her husband Rajeeb have received several awards for their philanthropy. They were the first South Asians to receive the Montblanc de la Culture Arts Patronage award in 2017. They have also been recognised in Artnews’s Top 200 Collectors list in 2015, 2016 and 2017, in ArtReview’s Power 100 list in 2015, 2016 and 2017, and in ArtNet News’s World's Top 100 Art Collectors in 2016. In 2018, Nadia received a ‘Recognition of Merit’ award in the category of outstanding entrepreneur and innovator from the Rotary Club of Dhaka North during their celebration of 50 Golden Years. She has also received recognition as the ‘Most Inspiring Female in Promoting Art’ at the 2018 Women in Leadership Fest in Dhaka.^{[48][49][50][51][52][50][53][54]}

References