Laisul Hoque

In 2026, we launched a new project with Laisul in partnership with Bow Arts. As a finalist for the 2024 CIRCA Prize and then winner of the 2025 East London Art Prize, Laisul presented his first major UK solo exhibition The Ground Beneath Me at Nunnery Gallery in 2026. The East London Art Prize with BOW Arts offers ongoing support and development opportunities for the artist. Leading to Grand Union and Bow Arts working collaboratively to commission a new project and artwork in Birmingham.

“We were really taken by the beautifully raw and deeply personal and poetic story telling by Laisul, his ability to gently and sensitively hold space for an individual narration whilst also connecting and opening up wider socio-political perspectives.” (Hannah & Jo)

As an immigrant to the UK and having studied and worked solely in London up to this point, Laisul was intrigued to see and experience other parts of the UK, or as he would say “the Island”. He described his initial experience of arriving by train into Birmingham City and experiencing the complex layers of post industrial development and seeming dysfunction. Laisul was particularly interested in exploring the complexities of the histories and journeys of migrant communities and mirroring that through his own experiences of ‘learning to drive’, mapping and navigating the experiences of Bengali communities. Along the way he discovered the significant part played by these Brummie Bengalese communities in the then East Pakistan uprisings from the 70’s. Through his research project ‘Learning to Drive in Birmingham’ Laisul has navigated Birmingham through driving lessons, conversations in cars, and phone calls from home. 

Building new communities and connections as he went, this project culminated in a new film installation ‘Learning to Drive in Birmingham’. The exhibition runs 4 July – 3 October 2026 and comprises a new 30 minute film projection installed into Grand Union’s gallery space. Transforming and coating the window frames with tinted car window film, the space presents an altered view of the Birmingham landscape.

About the artist

Laisul Hoque (b. 1998, Dhaka, Bangladesh) is a London-based artist working across installation and film. Laisul is interested in ‘autobiographical histories and their intersections with broader political, cultural and emotional landscapes’, exploring this through sculpture, installation and ‘expanded storytelling’. After studying literature in Dhaka, Laisul completed an MA in Contemporary Photography: Practices and Philosophy at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London. His work has been presented at the Whitechapel Gallery, Barbican Centre, Experimenta India, and Alliance Française de Dhaka.