About
Welcome to Rohingyatographer, a beacon of creative expression and resilience. Located in the heart of the world's largest refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, Rohingyatographer is a collective of passionate Rohingya photographers and artists. United by our love and dedication, we aim to share the stories of our community through the art of photography and storytelling.
Founded in 2021 by Rohingya photographer and human rights activist Sahat Zia Hero, with support from David Palazón, an art director and former curator of the Rohingya Cultural Memory Centre, the collective has become a defining voice in documentary photography within the Rohingya refugee community. What started as an entrepreneurial endeavor with Sahat's first photobook has blossomed into a vibrant collective of over 30+ photographers, writers, and artists. Together, we are redefining the Rohingya narrative, shifting it from victimhood to one of resilience and identity.
The collective's work has gained international acclaim, standing as a vibrant testament to the Rohingya's right to self-representation. In 2024, Rohingyatographer received the Casa Asia Award in the category of Diversity, Inclusion and Sustainable Development, as well as winning an Honourable Mention at the ZEKE Awards by the Social Documentary Network. In 2024, Sahat and Ahtaram were shortlisted finalists for an Insight Award for Visual Journalism from the Institute for Nonprofit News. In 2023 Sahat was the recipient of the Prince Claus Seeds Award and the Nansen Refugee Award, recognising his leadership in this photo-voice project.
In an environment rife with uncertainty and limited access to formal education, photography has emerged as our voice and purpose. More than just a publication, our project is a powerful platform for visual storytelling, offering a glimpse into our community's life in the refugee camps through the eyes of Rohingya youth. As a testament to the transformative power of photography, Rohingyatographer gives a voice to the stateless. We enable self-representation and foster understanding, preserving the collective memory of the Rohingya refugee community. In this act of creation, each photograph is not just an image but a powerful statement of identity and self-assertion.
Rohingyatographer has evolved into a vital resource for those interested in the Rohingya experience, community-led documentary photography, visual anthropology, human rights, and refugee studies.
Our journey began with a virtual exhibition, supported by the Spanish Cooperation Agency in collaboration with Casa Asia in Barcelona. This initiative captured the attention of UNHCR, leading to their backing of our second issue. We achieved a milestone with our third issue, which is entirely crowdfunded on GoFundMe. Our publications delve into a range of themes including identity, resilience against natural elements, food, creativity, and human rights. A highlight of our journey is Unseen Courage, the first monograph by Rohingya female photographers, supported by SEA Junction and unveiled at the Asian University for Women. In 2024, we supported the Rohingya historian Aman Ullah in publishing A History of Rohingyas to 1948. Ahtaram Shin and Ishrat Bibi presented their curatorial projects at the Photovoice Conference Aiming for Impact organised by Photovoice Worldwide in October 2024. Rohingyatographer is a member of Alliance Against Genocide.
MISSION STATEMENT
Rohingyatographer is dedicated to empowering the Rohingya community through photography, providing a platform for self-representation and storytelling. Our mission is to foster global understanding and empathy for the Rohingya crisis, preserve collective memory, and advocate for human rights and dignity. By empowering Rohingya individuals to document their own narratives, we aim to challenge perceptions, inspire change, and contribute to a world where art acts as a powerful catalyst for social justice. These are our objectives:
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Enhancing creativity: Developing storytelling and content production skills among the team members, strengthening Rohingyatographer as a Rohingya-led content creation platform.
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Preserving cultural identity: Engaging Rohingya youth in preserving their own identity, history, cultural heritage, and collective memory.
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Facilitating education: Producing educational assets that can be utilized by Rohingya individuals engaged in teaching and learning within their own community.
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Empowering livelihoods: Supporting practice-based learning, self-expression, and skills development as livelihood and income opportunities for talented Rohingya youth.
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Advocacy and visibility: Using project assets to raise visibility for the Rohingya community and support advocacy efforts for their hope to return home.
ENGAGEMENT & COLLABORATIONS
Beyond publications and exhibitions, Rohingyatographer offers a range of photography services, including workshops, videography, stringer services, research, translation, and transcription. We welcome assignments, collaborative proposals, and media engagement opportunities. If you're interested in sharing authentic Rohingya stories, we invite you to connect with us via email. For more details about our collective, exhibitions, collaborations, and our presence in academic and global media, please explore the links below:
Founder/Editor/Mentor
Producer/Curator/Editor
Mentor/Advisor
Writer/Editor/Mentor
Curator/Editor
Art Director/Curator
Social Media/Editor
Current members
Anayat Ullah
Anowar Solim
Ayub Khan DKL
Maung Emdadul Hasan
Md Arafat
Md Ederis
Md Faruk
Md Imran
Md Junaid
Md Shahad Abdumonab
Mizana
Neyamot Ullah
Omar Khan
RB Hafizu
Ro Arfat Khan
Sadek Husein
Salamat Ullah
SM Riaz Uddin
SR Reyes
WR Wares
Former members
Abdul Wajed
Azimul Hasson
Khin Maung Thein
Omal Khair
Md Ayas
Shahida Win
2024
NPR. Whatever happened to ... the Rohingya refugee who won a U.N. award for his photos?
Institute for Nonprofit News. Compulsively readable: Finalists for the 2024 Nonprofit News Awards showcase the storytelling power of nonprofit news
Melting Pot Europa. Unseen Courage: Through the eyes of Rohingya women. An interview with photographer Rohingya Ishrat Bibi
BBC. Jersey exhibition to show life in Rohingya refugee camps
Jersey Overseas Aid. The Rohingya Experience: Jersey to host powerful photography exhibition that gives a rare voice to refugees
Artbreath. Coffee Talk: Rohingyatographer
Aljazeera. Photos: The world’s displaced population equivalent to 12th largest country
New Internationalist. Rohingya refugee camps devastated by cyclone Remal
Instick. How the climate crisis deepens hardships for Rohingya refugees
Melting Pot Europa. The Forgotten Rohingya Genocide: Tales from the Cox's Bazar refugee camp
360, One World, Many Voices. How the Rohingya mobilised digital solidarity
Muslim Views. Rohingya youth photographers capture the lived experience in the world’s largest refugee camp
The Guardian. ‘I can’t speak but my photos do’: how a mute Rohingya boy talks to the world
ZEKE Magazine. Through Rohingya Eyes: A Journey of Resilience
MSF (Doctors Without Borders). Rohingyatographer: Sharing the Rohingya story in photos
Boom Saloon. We photograph, therefore we are
Der Spiegel. "Hope kills the people here"
2023
El Confidecial. Autorretrato íntimo de los olvidados de la tierra
Radio France Internationale. Four Rohingya photographers awarded by the UN for their work in Bangladesh camps
NPR. Photos: This is life in the world's largest refugee camp, as seen by their own
DVB. The Rohingya and the ethical blindspot of international media
UNHCR. With photographs, words, and deeds, Rohingya refugee storytellers weave hope from despair
MSF. Rohingya youth trapped in violence and despair in Cox's Bazar
UNHCR Netherlands Magazine. Rohingya in Pictures.
PYO Asia. Favourite images POY Asia 2023
Conversations on Genocide. Episode #3: The Rohingya Genocide and International Law with Regina Paulose
Dhaka Tribune. Hope away from home
Dhaka Tribune. Poetry and art provide ‘hope away from home’ for Rohingya refugees
F-Stop Magazine. Interview with Sahat Zia Hero – Rohingyatographer Magazine
Reasons to be Cheerful. Rohingya refugees capture the reality of their lives one photo at a time
Aljazeera. What is life like inside the world’s biggest refugee camp?
SBS Dateline. They are called the forgotten people. This photographer tells their stories
Himal SouthAsian. A Rohingya photographer’s dispatch on food-aid cuts in the refugee camps
The Observers. Refugee photographers fight to raise awareness about plight of Rohingya in Bangladesh
Die Zeit. The Camp of the Forgotten
Minority Rights. Bangladesh: Sanitation among Rohingya women in Kutupalong refugee camp
The National. How can the world uplift the lives of refugees around the world?
The Business Standard. 'Life through Rohingya eyes': A fitting exhibition for World Refugee Day
The Daily Star. ‘Life through Rohingya eyes’
Daily Sun. ‘Life Through Rohingya Eyes’ photo exhibit launched
2022
Aljazeera. ‘Through our own eyes’: Rohingya refugees stage photography show
The Guardian. ‘This is our documentary of the crisis we face’: the Rohingya smartphone photographers.'
The Guardian. Women behind the lens: silent and alone, Nur hopes for a greener future
Blurb. Rohingyatographer Magazine: Behind the Zine with Sahat Zia Hero
The Eye of Photography. Rohingyatographer Magazine: We Are Rohingya
Anadolu Agency. Photo exhibition highlights plight of Rohingya in Bangladesh
NBC News. Young Rohingya photographers capture life in world’s largest refugee camp.
Visual Rebellion. Snaps of life in the world’s biggest refugee camp
Migrant Voice. The photography magazine from the world’s largest refugee camp
2024
Refugees, Immigrants, and Coexistence
Voice Beyond Borders. Seoul, South Korea
Dreams of Freedom, Huriye, Azadi. Centering Artists Impacted by Genocide. Harvard Divinity School
The Rohingya Experience. Jersey
The Art of Exile. Bangkok Arts & Cultural Centre
Resilience. Cox’s Bazar Cultural Centre
Photoville. Brooklyn Bridge Park, New York
Unbowed. Unbroken. Portraits of Cultural Resilience. Bridge Gallery, Massachusetts
The Art of Exile: documenting the displacement of Myanmar’s Forced Migrants. School of Humanities. University of California
Through Rohingya Eyes: A Journey of Resilience. Social Documentary Network
2023
FELIFA (Festival de Libros de Fotografia y Artes Plasticas). Haroldo Conti Cultural Memory Centre, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Jasbaa. The Art of Rohingya Refugee Resistance. Curated by Mayuu Ali. Ken Seiling Waterloo Region Museum and Doon Heritage Village. Canada
Resistance, Resilience, Remeberance. Picturing the Rohingya Genocide. Rohingya Centre of Canada, Ontario
Life through Rohingya Eyes. Liberation War Museum, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Leipzig Photobook Festival. GRASSI Museum for Applied Arts, Germany
2022
We are Rohingya. Head On Photo Festival. Sydney, Australia
We are Rohingya. Cox's Bazar Cultural Memory Centre, Bangladesh
We are Rohingya. Liberation War Museum, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Añrá Rohingya (We are Rohingya). Virtual Exhibition on World Refugee Day
2024
Photovoice Conference 'Aiming for Impact' Photovoice Worldwide
Disinformation and Identity-Based Violence by Samantha Bradshaw. Stanley Center for Peace and Security
Rohingya Cultural Preservation: An internationally coordinated response is urgent by Saqib Sheikh and Carolyn Morris in The Accountability, Politics, and Humanitarian Toll of the Rohingya Genocide. The New Lines Institute for Strategy and Policy, Washington
The photographic social experience of Rohingya youngsters of Cox’s Bazar: an interview with Ro Yassin Abdumonab by Marcelo Schellini in Visual Ethnography Journal, Curtin University, Malaysia
2023
Asking the world to see: Im/mobilities in refugees' group self-representation through the photography magazine Rohingyatographer by Luise Nora Rommelspacher, National University of Singapore
Five Years Lost: Youth Inclusion in the Rohingya Response by Imrul Islam and Sahat Zia Hero, in Journal on Migration and Human Security, Sage Journals. Centre for Migration Studies, New York
Rohingya refugees are using photography to tell their own stories by Mari Griffin, in Lacuna Magazine. Centre for Human Rights in Practice, University of Warwick
Forced Migration and the Arts. Panel discussion by Civic Leicester. UK
2022
Voice and power at the intersection of art, technology and advocacy by Sahat Zia Hero, Alison Kent, Alexandra Kotowski and Parmin Fatema, in Forced Migration Review. Refugee Studies Centre, Oxford University
Live from the world’s largest refugee camp. Head On Photo Festival. Australia
Diálogo «Somos Rohingya, la mirada de los fotógrafos Rohingya». Casa Asia. Barcelona. Spain
Review of Rohingyatographer Magazine, Issue #1/Summer 2022. Prof Tom Arcaro. Elon University