(b. 1998, Dhaka, Bangladesh) is a London-based artist whose work explores social, personal, and familial histories. His installations and films are informed by intimate conversations and created in collaboration with communities connected to these narratives, forming an experiential autobiography that opens into a wider collective story.
contact.laisulhoque@gmail.com
Instagram
2024
An Ode to All the Flavours
2023
The Purpose was to Document the Other Side
Education
2020 - 2022
MA in Contemporary Photography: Practices and
Philosophies, Central Saint Martins, UAL, London
2016 - 2020
BA in English Literature, North South University, Dhaka
Fellowships and Awards
2025 - 2026 The Flamin Fellowship, Film London
2025 East London Art Prize, Winner
2024 CIRCA Prize, Finalist
Exhibitions and Screenings
(* indicates solo)
2025The Purpose was to Document the Other Side, East London Art Prize Late, Whitechapel Gallery, London
The Purpose was to Document the Other Side, Auditorium Nouvelle Vague, Alliance Française de Dhaka*
An Ode to All the Flavours, East London Art Prize, Bow Arts, Nunnery Gallery, London
The Purpose was to Document the Other Side, Harlesden Video Club’24, Harlesden High Street, London
The Purpose was to Document the Other Side, EXPERIMENTA at Ark, Ark Foundation for the Arts, FGI Auditorium, Sevasi
2024The Purpose was to Document the Other Side, EXPERIMENTA 2024, Goethe-Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan, Bangalore
An Ode to All the Flavours, a day-long Exhibition, Whitechapel Gallery, London*
The Purpose was to Document the Other Side, Screened at Piccadilly Lights screen, London (as part of CIRCA Prize)
The Purpose was to Document the Other Side, Screened at Limes Kurfürstendamm screen, Berlin (as part of CIRCA Prize)
The Purpose was to Document the Other Side, Screened at Essilor Luxottica screen in Cadorna Square, Milan (as part of CIRCA Prize)
An Ode to All the Flavours, Solo Exhibition, Kobi Nazrul Centre, London *
The Purpose was to Document the Other Side, Solo Screening, Project Banani 18, Dhaka *
The Purpose was to Document the Other Side, Solo Screening, Studio 6/6, Dhaka *
The Purpose was to Document the Other Side, Solo Screening, EkshoEk, Dhaka *
Shorts: Joyful Lands, Joyful Bodies, Chronic Youth Film Festival, Group Screening, Barbican Centre, London
I don’t Call Enough but I’m Here Now, Solo Exhibition, Oitij-jo, London *
2023Bhalo Basha, Group Screening, Toynbee Hall, London
ELO MELO Festival, Oitij-jo x Whitechapel Gallery, Group Screening, Whitechapel Gallery, London
Molasses Vases, Group Exhibition, hARTslane, London2022Ajker, Group Exhibition, Oitij-jo, London
Degree Show, Central Saint Martins, 1 Granary Square, London
Press/Reviews
202530 moments for 30 years, Artist Spotlight: Laisul Hoque
by Bow Arts
Private Histories, Public Spaces: Laisul Hoque on the Vulnerability of Personal Art on MOLA by Ella Monnerat
Laisul Hoque’s ode to flavours of his past on The Business Standard by Eshadi Sharif
Laisul Hoque Wins The 2025 East London Art Prize on SHOWstudio
Laisul Hoque Wins The 2025 East London Art Prize on FAD magazine by Mark Westall
2024Laisul Hoque @ Whitechapel on The White Pube by Zarina MuhammadThe Purpose Was to Document the Other Side on The White Pube by Zarina Muhammad
The Purpose Was to Document the Other Side: A Tale of Mediating Generational Gaps on
The Daily Star (BD) by Tasrifa Trisha
Writing
2023Time Is Moving At A Different Pace Back Home: Leaving Behind A Version Of Us, Small World City, Issue 01
Talks/Panels
2025Laisul Hoque in Conversation with Zarina Muhammad expanding on his East London Art Prize-winning installation, ‘An Ode to All the Flavours’ (2024), Nunnery Gallery, London
(video link)
2024Exploration of “tradition” and “authenticity” in the context of hybrid cultures, An Ode to All the Flavours, Whitechapel Gallery, London
Joyful Lands, Joyful Bodies, Chronic Youth Film Festival, Barbican Centre, London
An Ode to All the Flavours, Whitechapel Gallery
wood, glass, mirrors, low-EMF sodium-inspired lights, the artist’s father’s favourite childhood snack, simulated sodium lighting through video projection, brown noise
Press
The White Pube
SHOWstudio
The Business StandardInspired by the artist’s earliest memory of his father sharing his favourite childhood snack, the work is an expanded storytelling and interactive installation piece that collaborates with local Bengali sweet shops, ubiquitously present throughout East London, to source ingredients and recreate this cherished snack in a gallery space.
Audiences are invited to taste this memory that sits in silence, in place of the lack of emotive expressions and communication in hegemonic masculinity and the artist’s own experience of paternal love; emotions expressed through actions and gestures, through expressions that are non-verbal.
Text by Laisul Hoque
As far as memory recalls, moments of my father showing his emotional side to me are scant. Our interactions typically consist of my mother sporadically passing the phone to my father during our FaceTime calls. He inquires about my well-being, and expresses concerns about my life choices, instilling more anxiety and existential dread in me. The conversation often takes a turn into ridiculing questions about the length of my hair or the presence of facial hair, delivered with a steady tone of disappointment. In response, I either lack a satisfying answer or offer silence. The interaction usually concludes with him saying, "Alright, talk to your mother," before handing the phone back to her. These exchanges oscillate between silence and heated arguments in defence of my agency and autonomy.
However, there is a memory from my childhood that stands out. During a visit to our grandparents, my father decided to take me on a walk through the village market, offering a glimpse into his upbringing. He led me to a sodium-lit sweet shop and proposed trying his favourite childhood snack: Jhuri Bundiya. This unfamiliar treat combined two separate snacks: Jhuri, fried gram flour flakes seasoned in spices and Boondi, small balls of fried chickpea flour soaked in sugar syrup. It was a revelation, a snack simultaneously salty, savoury, spicy, and sweet. I didn't know such flavour combinations were allowed.
As we walked back, I held his hand, overwhelmed with gratitude for letting me experience that part of his childhood. Much like the flavours, I imagined that his childhood must have been complex. But much like him, I didn’t express anything. The thought of being emotional with him scared me, partly because I was too young, and mostly because articulating these emotions felt too complicated.
The image of nostalgic yellow light, the sensation of experiencing new flavours for the first time and his smile remain vivid in the back of my mind. It was an offering from him to me, an image I visualized as paternal love. An experience I wish others could savour.
Throughout my upbringing, the statements I heard the most were: “Don’t stray from norms and traditions,” “always try to fit in,” and ”what will people say?' The person I heard this from the most was my father. Yet, his favourite childhood snack is something unconventional.
In the aura surrounding this work are silent conversations on paternal love, patriarchy’s effect on contemporary masculinity, queer materialism and scope for newness in conservative cultures, and nonverbal ways of expressing love.
All the photos above are from An Ode to All the Flavours — a day-long exhibition at Whitechapel Gallery on 28th November 2024. Images by Laisul Hoque (the artist) and Fatima Yasmin.
The event was held in partnership with Oitij-jo, with food provided by Oitij-jo Kitchen and support from the Mubarak Ali Foundation.
An Ode to All the Flavours, Kobi Nazrul Centre
wood, glass, mirrors, low-EMF sodium-inspired lights, artist’s father’s favourite childhood snack
The photos above are from the exhibition that was held at Kobi Nazrul Centre, from 7th to 11th of August 2024, as part of South Asian Heritage Month.
Supported by
Tower Hamlets Council
South Asian Heritage Month UK
Brady Arts Centre
Tamarind Theatre Co.
Oitij-jo
Food provided by
Oitij-jo Kitchen