Munem Wasif

Rohingya Refugees
The Rohingyas are a Muslim Burmese ethnic minority who live in the northern state of Arakan in Burma (Myanmar), near the border with Bangladesh. Deprived of citizenship rights in their native country, the Rohingyas continue to suffer untold atrocities. The Burmese regime restricts their movement and marriage, and subjects them to various forms of extortion and arbitrary taxation, land confiscation, forced eviction and destruction of their homes. And their struggle for survival is virtually unknown. In Bangladesh, Rohingyas survive in inhumane conditions - sixteen or more live in a room that is barely more than three square meters. Stateless and classified as illegal immigrants by Bangladesh, unwanted by the brutal Burmese junta, they are caught in a permanent no man’s land.

Climate Refugees
"In the last ten years, farmers like Hatem Ali have had to tear down and relocate their tin-and-bamboo houses five times to escape the encroaching waters of the huge Bramhamputra River in Kurigram." These rivers are regularly swollen out of proportion by monsoons that scientists believe are caused by global warming and massive glacial thawing in the Himalayas. Bangladesh, with a population of 140 million, packed into an area smaller than the American state of Wisconsin, is one of the first victims of climate change. The people are at the mercy of nature; some live with the memory of losing their grip on the hand of a child washed away by a tidal wave caused by cyclone Sidr. Once happy villagers leading a peaceful, rural life, have turned into mere statistics as “climate refugees”.

Refugees from Modern Life
Puran Dhaka, or Old Dhaka, was an unlikely subject for a photographer, not being considered “important enough” for documentary research and coverage. Munem’s work in Puran Dhaka may be seen as an effort to uncover aspects unseen in normal everyday life. Munem’s own childhood years in Comilla, a small town in a mostly rural area, steeped in old world customs and lifestyle, had made him appreciate and feel at home with relationships that developed and improved with time. Things here are based on tradition rather than trends. In Puran Dhaka, Munem rediscovered the experience of feeling the pulse of a small town that had held onto things rather than let go.