Global Courant 2023-05-13 13:55:13
Doha, Qatar – A rainbow forms over thatched huts, children frolicking in dusty streets, women busy with household chores – these are just some of the scenes seen in a large art space in the heart of the capital from Qatar.
The award-winning photos were taken by three young Rohingya refugees – Omal Khair, Dil Kayas and Azimul Hasson – and will be exhibited at Tasweer, a biennial photography festival in Doha.
They capture everyday life in the world’s largest refugee camp in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazaar, painting a picture of hope and resilience.
More than one million Rohingya live in difficult conditions in the refugee camp after fleeing persecution and brutal repression by the army in neighboring Myanmar in 2017.
Nearly six years later, the largely Muslim ethnic minority is trapped in severely overcrowded and unsanitary living quarters with little hope of returning to their homeland in Myanmar. Meanwhile, authorities in the host country are increasingly imposing restrictions on their movements.
Azimul Hasson (courtesy of Azimul Hasson)
“I want to tell the world about the plight of my people in the refugee camp,” 20-year-old Hasson told Al Jazeera over the phone from Cox’s Bazaar.
“It’s a dream come true for me,” he added, referring to the exhibition which runs until May 20 at M7, a fashion and design center.
The three photographers have been documenting life in the camp since they became media fellows with the NGO Fortify Rights and the Doha Debates platform in 2018.
The images, posted on their Instagram accounts, were compiled into A Chance to Breathe, a book published last August to mark five years since the Myanmar army’s crackdown.
Vanessa Chong, of Fortify Rights, said the project was conceived with the aim of supporting aspiring refugee photographers and equipping them with “skills and equipment to tell their stories”.
“And over the years we’ve trained them several times and tried to curate their photos so that the photos best showcase them,” she told Al Jazeera.
Jigar Mehta, the deputy director of Doha Debates, said he believed the project could become a template and inspire others to amplify the voice of refugees.
“If you look at the pictures they took in the beginning versus the kind of content they’re doing now, it’s completely transformed because they’ve just grown as photographers,” he told Al Jazeera.
Some of the images featured in the exhibition A Chance to Breathe (Sorin Furcoi/Al Jazeera)
Charlotte Cotton, artistic director of Tasweer, said the public response to the photographers’ work was incredible.
“People come especially for the show,” she told Al Jazeera.
“The overall reason we’re doing this is to honor and celebrate three photographers who can tell extraordinary stories in an absolutely unique way,” added Cotton.
The Rohingya photographers have also been commissioned to contribute images to a pop-up exhibition for Doha Fashion Fridays, a project photographing migrant workers on their day of rest.
Khair, Kayas and Hasson were trained to shoot fashion portraits in their community during Ramadan and Eid.
The exhibition runs until May 20 (Sorin Furcoi/Al Jazeera)
From the camp, Hasson said there was growing concern among residents about their future.
“There is no future for Rohingya youth here because there is no facility available for them,” he said.
Hasson still remembers the day he fled his village in the Maungdaw district of Rakhine State.
“It was early in the morning of November 25, 2017, when the army came to my village, Boli Bazar, (and) started shooting at villagers. Terrified people began to flee to save their lives. I saw a lot of people fall down after being hit by bullets,” he recalls.
Hasson was just a young teen at the time and ran into a paddy field to save himself.
Now he said he wanted to return home without fear of being attacked.
“All we want is to go back to our homeland in Myanmar and live in harmony and peace with other communities.”
Back at the A Chance to Breathe exhibition, Mehta said it was gratifying to work with the three young photographers and urged viewers to engage with their work.
“It will help bring about a little change in thinking about what it means to be a refugee.”
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