<![CDATA[This paper examines how Zainul Abedin's 1943 Bengal Famine sketches function as visual testimony in the formation of Bangladeshi national memory. Drawing upon testimony theory, postmemory studies, and visual culture analysis, this study argues that Abedin's ink drawings operate not merely as historical documentation but as performative acts of witness-bearing that have become foundational to collective remembrance of colonial trauma and postcolonial identity formation. Through close analysis of three representative sketches and examination of their circulation in museums, textbooks, and public discourse, this research demonstrates how visual testimony can transform immediate documentation of catastrophic events into enduring sites of national memory. The paper contributes to scholarship on art as historical evidence while illuminating the specific mechanisms through which visual culture participates in the construction of collective identity in postcolonial contexts. ]]>
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