Early Life
Tufan Chakma is an Indigenous visual artist and animator from the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) of Bangladesh. He was Born (1996) and raised in Udal Bagan, Dighinala, Khagrachhari, his early life was shaped by the natural beauty of his homeland, the quiet persistence of his childhood imagination, and the sacrifices his parents made to give their children a better future. Long before he knew what fine arts was or imagined a career in animation, drawing was already a natural part of his life.
As a child, Tufan would draw on almost any piece of paper he could find. Blank sheets became spaces for his imagination, while the pages of his academic books often turned into unexpected canvases. Without access to formal art education, professional materials, or institutional guidance, he learned by observing, experimenting, and drawing whenever the opportunity arose. Art was not something he initially understood as a profession or an academic discipline; it was simply something he loved to do. He did not have art supplies or a structured environment in which to develop his skills, but he had curiosity and an instinctive desire to express what he saw and imagined.
At school, Tufan was a regular and dedicated student who performed well academically. For much of his childhood, he focused on his studies without any particular ambition to pursue higher education. In fact, he had little understanding of what a university was or what studying fine arts could mean. The idea of becoming an artist through formal education was almost entirely absent from his world. Although drawing remained a constant presence in his life, he did not yet recognise it as a possible path towards a future career.
His perspective began to change after completing his Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) examination in 2014. It was around this time that he first learned about universities and the possibility of studying fine arts at a higher level. This discovery opened a door he had never seriously considered before. What had once been an informal childhood habit suddenly became a potential direction for his life. He eventually enrolled in the Department of Fine Arts at Jahangirnagar University, where he began studying drawing and painting more systematically. His journey into art education was therefore not the result of a long-established career plan, but of a late discovery that allowed him to recognise a possibility hidden within something he had always loved.
Behind this turning point was the enduring influence of his mother. Neither of Tufan’s parents had the opportunity to receive a formal education, but his mother understood the importance of learning and was determined to give her children opportunities that had been unavailable to her. She worked tirelessly to support his schooling, weaving traditional Ben to earn money for school expenses and private tuition fees. Through her weaving, she helped sustain his education and nurtured the possibility of a different future for her children.
His father also worked hard to provide for the family, and used to go to Katton to earn a living. For Tufan, his mother’s influence was particularly significant: her own experience of being denied educational opportunities became a reason to insist that her children should have them.
Her perseverance helped shape his understanding of education not merely as personal achievement, but as something made possible through sacrifice, care, and determination.
Among the places of his homeland that left a lasting impression on him was the Migini River. More than a geographical feature, the river became an important part of his childhood experience and creative imagination. Its movements, colours, sounds, and changing appearance offered a kind of visual education outside any classroom. The river and its surroundings gave him opportunities to observe details, notice changes, and develop a relationship with the landscape through lived experience. These encounters helped shape the way he sees and remembers the world, laying an early foundation for the observational sensibility that would later inform his artistic practice.
Looking back, Tufan’s early life reveals how an artistic journey can begin without formal training, professional resources, or even an awareness that art can become a vocation. His first drawing materials were whatever paper happened to be available; his first lessons came from observation and experimentation; and his earliest creative environment was the place where he grew up. His parents’ sacrifices gave him access to education, while the landscape of the Chittagong Hill Tracts provided a lasting source of memory and inspiration.
Before he became a formally trained artist, Tufan was a child drawing in the margins of schoolbooks, growing up beside the Migini River, and learning from a world he did not yet know how to describe as art. His path from Udal Bagan to Jahangirnagar University marked the beginning of a more conscious artistic journey, but its roots remained in the experiences, relationships, and landscapes of his childhood. These early influences would continue to shape not only what he draws, but also how he understands the relationship between art, memory, place, and the lives of Indigenous communities in the Chittagong Hill Tracts.
Education
Primary Education (2001-2006)
Tufan Chakma began his formal education at Udal Bagan Government Primary School in Dighinala, Khagrachhari, in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) of Bangladesh. Growing up in his home community, he spent his early years in a familiar cultural and natural environment that would later become an important influence on his artistic practice.
During this period, he developed his foundational knowledge and skills through primary education. Alongside his academic studies, his childhood curiosity and inclination toward drawing began to emerge.
He often drew on whatever blank paper he could find, gradually developing an interest in visual expression through spontaneous, self-motivated practice. In 2006, he participated in the Primary School Certificate (PSC) examination, completing this initial stage of his formal education.
Secondary School Education (2007-2012)
Tufan continued his education at Udal Bagan High School in Dighinala, Khagrachhari. His secondary school years were particularly significant in shaping his artistic sensibility and the way he observed the world around him.
Without access to formal art education, he developed his drawing practice naturally, driven by curiosity, observation, and a growing desire to express himself visually. His surroundings, everyday experiences, and interactions with people gradually became part of how he understood and interpreted the world. Art was not yet a structured academic pursuit; rather, it was an organic part of his life that grew through experimentation and regular practice.
His friendships during this period also played an important role in his personal development. A supportive circle of friends provided an encouraging environment in which he could explore his interests, share experiences, and nurture his creative instincts. At the same time, he experienced detachment from some of his friends due to some social and financial realities that truly made him think about the discrimination in society.
However, although he had not yet received formal training in drawing or painting, these formative years laid the groundwork for his future artistic journey. The combination of independent practice, close observation, and encouragement from his peers helped him develop an early visual sensibility that would later find direction through academic study. In 2012, he participated in the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) examination, marking the completion of his secondary education.
Higher Secondary Education (2012-2014)
After completing secondary school, Tufan moved to Khagrachhari town to pursue his higher secondary education at Khagrachhari Government College. For the first time, he spent an extended period studying outside his familiar home environment. This transition introduced him to new responsibilities, experiences, and expectations, encouraging him to become more disciplined and independent in his academic life.
Over the following two years, he remained focused on his studies while continuing to nurture his interest in drawing. In 2014, he completed his Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) examination, achieving a GPA of 5.00.
This achievement opened the door to the next major chapter of his life. Determined to continue his education, he travelled to Dhaka to participate in admission tests for public universities. During this period, he discovered the field of Fine Arts and began to recognise that his long-standing interest in drawing could develop into a professional artistic career.
He subsequently participated in the Fine Arts admission tests at the University of Dhaka (DU) and Jahangirnagar University (JU). Despite having no formal training in drawing, he secured a place in the Department of Fine Arts at Jahangirnagar University through the merit list. This achievement marked a turning point in his life. What had begun as an instinctive and self-directed childhood practice was about to become a structured academic discipline.
Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA), Jahangirnagar University (2015-2023)
Tufan Chakma pursued his Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) at the Department of Fine Arts, Jahangirnagar University, where he received his first systematic education in drawing, painting, and visual art.
University life transformed his understanding of art from an individual creative interest into a broader intellectual and artistic practice. Through academic coursework, experimentation, and engagement with fellow students, he developed a stronger foundation in visual language, artistic techniques, and the processes of creating and interpreting images.
His years at Jahangirnagar University were also significant for the cultural and social perspectives they brought into his life. Meeting friends from different regions and backgrounds of Bangladesh opened him to experiences and viewpoints beyond his own. These encounters helped him recognise an important gap in mutual understanding: while he encountered many unfamiliar perspectives, he also realised how little many people outside the Chittagong Hill Tracts knew about the region’s Indigenous peoples, their cultures, histories, and lived realities.
This growing awareness became an important point of reflection in his artistic development. He began to understand that art could do more than communicate personal ideas or aesthetic experiences; it could also create opportunities to share underrepresented histories, question dominant narratives, and make overlooked experiences visible.
Drawing on his background as an Indigenous artist from the Chittagong Hill Tracts, he increasingly recognised the potential of visual art to communicate stories that were often absent from mainstream cultural representation. His academic education provided him with the technical foundation to explore these ideas, while his personal experiences gave his practice a distinct cultural and social perspective.
Tufan completed his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at Jahangirnagar University in 2023. This period established the foundation for his continuing exploration of art as a means of storytelling, cultural expression, and engagement with the realities of Indigenous communities.
Erasmus Mundus Joint Master's Degree in Animation - Re:Anima
Following his undergraduate studies in painting and Fine Arts, Tufan Chakma took a significant step beyond his established artistic discipline by pursuing the Erasmus Mundus Joint Master’s Degree in Animation through the Re:Anima Scholarship programme. This fully funded programme brought together three European institutions: LUCA School of Arts in Belgium, Aalto University in Finland, and Lusófona University in Portugal.
Entering the programme without a conventional academic background in animation or filmmaking, he approached the master’s degree as an opportunity to expand his artistic language and discover new ways of communicating the experiences and histories of Indigenous peoples in the Chittagong Hill Tracts.
The programme introduced him to animation as an interdisciplinary medium combining visual storytelling, movement, sound, cinematic language, and time-based expression. Through academic study, practical experimentation, and the development of his graduation film, he explored how ideas and images rooted in painting could be translated into moving images.
This transition did not mean abandoning painting. Instead, it allowed him to extend his existing visual practice into a new medium. His background in drawing, composition, colour, and visual symbolism became a foundation for experimenting with movement, rhythm, atmosphere, and sound. Animation offered him possibilities that static images alone could not fully achieve, particularly when exploring memory, displacement, cultural continuity, and the often-overlooked realities of Indigenous communities. His master’s project culminated in Lullaby of the Fireflies, an animated film through which he explored the experiences and existential concerns of Indigenous peoples in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. The project brought together his artistic development, cultural perspective, and growing interest in cinematic storytelling.
Through Re:Anima, Tufan expanded his practice from painting into animation and moving-image art, developing a broader visual approach to telling stories that remain underrepresented in mainstream media. He completed the Erasmus Mundus Joint Master’s Degree in Animation in 2026, marking a new stage in his journey as an artist and animator. Today, his educational journey reflects a gradual but significant evolution: from a self-taught childhood interest in drawing, to formal training in Fine Arts, and ultimately to an expanded practice that embraces animation as a means of exploring Indigenous identity, history, culture, and human rights.
Artistic Inspiration
Tufan Chakma’s artistic journey is deeply rooted in his experiences as an Indigenous person from the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) of Bangladesh. Although drawing had been a part of his life since childhood, it was during his university years that he began to recognise the deeper social and political possibilities of art.
In 2018, while studying Fine Arts at Jahangirnagar University, he was deeply affected by the reported brutal rape of a minor Indigenous girl from the Tripura community in Noy mile, Dighinala. The incident forced him to confront the injustices experienced by Indigenous communities and the inadequate attention their suffering often received in mainstream public discourse. It became a defining moment in his artistic development, prompting him to question why certain stories received widespread attention while others remained marginalised or unheard.
This experience led him to look more critically at the historical and political circumstances surrounding the Indigenous peoples of the Chittagong Hill Tracts. He began exploring historical events, including the construction of the Kaptai Dam in the early 1960s, which submerged extensive ancestral lands and displaced approximately 100,000 Indigenous people, many of them Chakma. He became increasingly concerned with how such transformative events and their long-term consequences were often overlooked or inadequately represented in mainstream media and broader historical narratives.
As he continued to learn about his community’s past and present, he became more conscious of the persistent realities of land dispossession, threats of eviction, communal violence, cultural marginalisation, misrepresentation, and the struggle for collective identity and survival. These were not merely historical subjects; they were continuing concerns affecting the lives, security, and future of Indigenous communities.
For Tufan, this growing awareness raised a fundamental question: if these experiences were so deeply embedded in the lives of Indigenous peoples, why were they so often absent from the images and narratives that shaped public understanding? He began to see his artistic practice as a way to address this gap. Rather than treating art solely as an aesthetic pursuit, he became increasingly committed to using visual storytelling to bring overlooked experiences into public view, challenge dominant representations, and create space for Indigenous perspectives.
Tufan's Artbin: Turning Personal Conviction into Collective Expression
In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Tufan established a Facebook page called Tufan’s Artbin. What began as an independent initiative to share his artwork and personal reflections gradually developed into a platform for communicating the experiences, struggles, and cultural realities of Indigenous peoples in the Chittagong Hill Tracts.
Through digital illustrations, he began addressing subjects that he felt were inadequately represented in mainstream narratives, including land dispossession, historical injustice, communal attacks, cultural identity, and the uncertainty surrounding Indigenous communities’ futures. His images offered a visual language through which complex political and social realities could be communicated to audiences who might otherwise have limited exposure to these issues.
The response revealed a significant demand for this kind of representation. People who recognised the gap Tufan was attempting to address began engaging with, sharing, and circulating his work. His page grew into a substantial online community, reaching nearly 100,000 followers, according to his account of its growth.
For Tufan, this response demonstrated the potential of social media to create alternative spaces for expression and public engagement. It allowed him to reach audiences beyond conventional art institutions and geographical boundaries, while enabling members of Indigenous communities and their supporters to encounter and share visual narratives reflecting their concerns. Since its establishment, Tufan’s Artbin has remained an important platform for his digital illustration practice. He has continued to develop and publish work that connects visual art with Indigenous identity, collective memory, human rights, and the ongoing realities of the Chittagong Hill Tracts.
His work has also attracted attention from mainstream media outlets in Bangladesh, including Prothom Alo, The Daily Star, and BBC Bangla, which have featured his artistic journey and the social concerns informing his practice. This recognition has helped bring wider attention to his work and to the role of digital art in communicating underrepresented perspectives. More than an online portfolio, Tufan’s Artbin represents his attempt to establish an independent visual platform through which Indigenous experiences can be expressed in his own artistic language.
From Digital Illustration to Animation: Expanding the Language of Storytelling
As Tufan continued developing his practice through painting and digital illustration, he began considering the limitations of a single image in communicating the depth and complexity of the stories he wanted to tell. Although his illustrations could capture powerful moments, symbols, and political realities, he increasingly felt that some experiences required another dimension of expression—one that could bring together movement, time, atmosphere, sound, and narrative.
He began exploring animation as a medium capable of expanding the possibilities of his visual storytelling. Drawn to its ability to construct imaginative worlds, communicate through metaphor, and represent experiences that are difficult to articulate directly, he started learning animation independently through online resources and tutorials. Without formal training in animation or filmmaking, he experimented with digital tools and gradually developed his understanding of movement, visual sequencing, and time-based storytelling.
This process represented more than a technical transition. It was an attempt to find a form through which the histories, memories, fears, and aspirations of Indigenous communities could be communicated with greater emotional and narrative depth.
For Tufan, animation offered the possibility of moving beyond the immediacy of a single illustration to create immersive visual experiences. Through symbolism, surreal imagery, sound, and movement, he could explore not only what had happened to Indigenous communities but also how historical trauma, displacement, and uncertainty might be experienced and remembered.
Following the completion of his Bachelor of Fine Arts at Jahangirnagar University in 2023, he pursued this interest further by applying to the Erasmus Mundus Joint Master’s Degree in Animation, Re:Anima. Despite his lack of a conventional academic background in animation, he entered an international learning environment that brought together LUCA School of Arts in Belgium, Aalto University in Finland, and Lusófona University in Portugal.
The programme enabled him to develop his artistic practice through academic study, experimentation, and filmmaking. It also allowed him to reconsider the relationship between his background in painting and his emerging interest in animation. Rather than leaving painting behind, he began extending its visual possibilities into moving images, exploring how composition, colour, texture, symbolism, and sound could work together to tell stories.
His master’s journey culminated in Lullaby of the Fireflies, an animated film that reflects his continuing engagement with the realities of Indigenous peoples in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Through the project, he brought together his personal perspective, visual-art background, and developing cinematic language to explore questions of displacement, cultural survival, and existential uncertainty.
An Evolving Artistic Practice: Making the Unseen Visible
Tufan Chakma’s journey from childhood drawing to painting, digital illustration, and animation reflects a continuing search for more effective ways to communicate the experiences of his community.
At the centre of his practice is a concern with representation: who gets to tell a community’s stories, which histories become visible, and whose experiences remain excluded from dominant narratives. His work seeks to challenge this imbalance by creating visual spaces for the histories, identities, and lived realities of Indigenous peoples in the Chittagong Hill Tracts.
He approaches art as both a creative practice and a means of public engagement. His illustrations use visual metaphor to communicate complex social and political concerns, while his exploration of animation enables him to develop these ideas through movement, sound, and cinematic storytelling.
As he continues expanding his practice across different visual media, his aim is not simply to document injustice but to encourage audiences to look more closely at the people, histories, and realities that conventional representations often overlook.
From the digital illustrations shared through Tufan’s Artbin to his animated film Lullaby of the Fireflies, his work reflects an ongoing commitment to bringing underrepresented Indigenous experiences into wider public consciousness. His artistic journey is ultimately driven by the belief that visual storytelling can open spaces for recognition, reflection, and dialogue—allowing stories that have long remained at the margins to find new audiences and forms of expression.