Durjoy Rahman, Activist Bangladeshi Collector

Based in Dacca and Berlin, the Durjoy Bangladesh Foundation (DBF) was created in 2018 to promote artists from South Asia and beyond. Its founder, collector Durjoy Rahman, developed a passion for art in the 1990s. His nearly 1,000-piece collection is mainly made up of internationally famous contemporary artists from India and Bangladesh, some Western artists and promising local talent. Where did your interest in art come from? It started in the 1990s. I’ve been in the textile and garment trade since I was 22 and went into business for myself in 1994. My first offices were in the Dhanmondi neighborhood in Dacca, the capital of Bangladesh. That’s where the main galleries are located. I’d go there after work or at lunchtime. Many collectors from my generation started out like me, by visiting galleries left, right and center. Unlike today, when everything is increasingly online, things happened through personal contact…