The moments of 1971 captured in "September on Jessore Road" by American poet Allen Ginsberg are given visual form by a Bangladeshi sculptor, Akhtar Ahmed Rasha.

It is the story of surging masses of refugees going to India from the erstwhile East Pakistan, now Bangladesh. Ginsberg then wrote: “Millions of souls nineteen seventy one/ homeless on Jessore road under grey sun.”

Rasha has reflected on what the American poet penned down, through his wood art work titled ‘Jessore Road’. It was one of his major works at an exhibition in New York on Saturday and Sunday.

His wooden works have illustrated the lines of refugees who are in search of safety and shelter. The artist has also added some scenes of 1952 to focus on the history of the freedom struggle.

Rasha, an expatriate Bangladeshi artist, shows that the phrase ‘Jessore Road’ is not just a couple of words, it is a history that remains in living memory.

This solo exhibition of Rasha, his second of this kind, was held in Queens, New York, where many Bangladeshis and foreigners came. A total of 80 of his art pieces were put on display and almost all were sold out.

Rasha said he collected wood from nearby gardens and park.

Counsel general of Bangladesh mission in New York, Shamim Ahsan inaugurated the exhibition on Saturday.