‘We Are Rohingya’ photo exhibition puts cameras in the hands of Bangladesh camp refugees

10 July 2022
‘We Are Rohingya’ photo exhibition puts cameras in the hands of Bangladesh camp refugees

A new online photo exhibition offers Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar, locked up in the world’s largest refugee camp, a chance to express their predicament through photos.

Timed to mark World Refugee Day 2022 last month, Rohingyatographer Magazine presents a virtual exhibition featuring the unique photographic work by a collective of Rohingya photographers based in the world’s largest refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh.

Close to 1 million Rohingya refugees live in the Cox’s Bazar area of southeast Bangladesh after fleeing their homes in Rakhine State in neighbouring Myanmar.

The exhibition deals with the subject of identity through intimate recordings of the daily lives of a displaced community. Exploring themes of memory, hope, faith, beauty, craftsmanship, grief, loss and love among the Rohingya refugee community, this exhibition presents a collective portrait that honours the strength, endurance and resilience of the Rohingya people, according to
Rohingyatographer Magazine.

The exhibition has been curated by David Palazón collaboratively with Sahat Zia Hero with photographs by Ro Yassin Abdumonaf, Shahida Win, Azimul Hasson, Abdullah Khin Maung Thein, Hujjat Ullah, Md Jamal, Enayat Khan, Sahat Zia Hero, Md Iddris and Omal Kahir.

The exhibition has been made possible with the support of the Spanish Embassy in Dhaka, the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) and Casa Asia in Barcelona.

The exhibition’s opening was accompanied by a webinar hosted by Casa Asia in Barcelona, supported by the Spanish Embassy in Dhaka, and in collaboration with Médecins Sans Frontières and UNHCR in Bangladesh.

The Rohingya living in refugee camps in Bangladesh are effectively caught in limbo – currently unable to return home and typically not welcome to apply for refuge in a third country. More than half of them are under 18, according to the UN refugee agency.

The Rohingya in Myanmar have experienced waves of repression over the decades.

The vast majority of the inhabitants of these camps fled a massive Myanmar military “clearance operation” in 2017 following deadly attacks on Myanmar border posts by a militant group called the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), said to have been founded in 2012. The military actions against the minority were brutal large-scale campaign of killings, mass rape and arson.

The Myanmar military denies the allegations, which the US government declared a genocide earlier this year.

A case was brought before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague in 2019 by Gambia, a predominantly Muslim West African country, backed by the 57-nation Organisation for Islamic Cooperation. Gambia argues that Myanmar has violated the Genocide Convention, citing events in

2017, when more than 730,000 Rohingya Muslims fled Myanmar into neighbouring Bangladesh after a military crackdown. A UN fact-finding mission concluded that the military campaign had included 'genocidal acts'. The court case is currently being heard but faces problems in who should represent Myanmar. There is currently a tussle between the Myanmar junta, which came to power in a coup in 2021, and the alternative civilian government under the banner of the National Unity Government (NUG).

The photo exhibition helps to provide a personal, human touch to the fate of the Rohingya refugees in the camps.

“This exhibition is a poignant reminder of that humanity and dignity of the Rohingya people,” Lilly Nicholls, Canada's High Commissioner to Bangladesh wrote.

Javed Patel, Deputy British High Commissioner to Bangladesh, lauded the show when it opened: “Incredibly moved by the 'We are Rohingya' exhibition at the Liberation War Museum on #WorldRefugeeDay this morning.”

The exhibition can be viewed here: https://www.rohingyatographer.org/exhibition