Rohingya artists turn memories of homeland into demands for justice
Art exhibitions in Bangladesh’s refugee camps give Rohingya survivors platform to document persecution, preserve memories of home and envision safe return
DHAKA, Bangladesh (MNTV) — Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh have turned memories of their homeland, the trauma of forced displacement and hopes of eventually returning home into an art exhibition exploring what justice means nearly a decade after their mass expulsion from Burma.
Paintings created by Rohingya survivors depicted their communities’ lives before displacement alongside the violence that uprooted them and the realities of prolonged exile in sprawling refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, where around a million Rohingya now live.
The exhibition, titled Nine Years On: Rohingya Aspirations for Justice, Dignity and Home, was organized by Rohingya artists and survivors alongside Legal Action Worldwide, Artolution and the Danish Refugee Council, with funding from the European Union, according to the Rohingya Khobor.
Rather than portraying justice solely through courts and prosecutions, the works presented it through the aspirations of survivors themselves — recognition of what happened to them, security, dignity and the ability to return voluntarily and safely to their homeland.
“The exhibition shows how we lived in Myanmar and the memories we continue to carry,” said Rahim, 25, one of the participating artists. “Some are painful, but they are part of our history.
We want our children to remember where they come from, and we hope for a future where we can return home safely, with dignity and justice.”
The exhibition was held at the Rohingya Centre in Camp 10 in Cox’s Bazar from Aug. 24 to 31, coinciding with the ninth Rohingya Genocide Remembrance Day.
The paintings had been produced earlier in August through collaborative sessions involving Rohingya Survivor Advocates working with Legal Action Worldwide and artists from Artolution.
The annual remembrance marks the Burmese military’s brutal 2017 crackdown in Rakhine state, when more than 700,000 Rohingya fled across the border into Bangladesh amid mass killings, rape and the burning of villages. United Nations investigators later said the military campaign was carried out with “genocidal intent.”
Visitors to the eight-day exhibition included members of the Rohingya community and humanitarian workers, who were able to meet the artists and hear the experiences behind their paintings.
At the closing event, Nhu Nguyen Tran Minh, head of the World Health Organization’s sub-office in Cox’s Bazar, said humanitarian responses should extend beyond providing essential services, highlighting creativity, recreation and self-expression as important to well-being and allowing displaced communities to communicate their experiences.
The exhibition also comes as Rohingya survivors await a ruling in the genocide case brought by The Gambia against Burma at the International Court of Justice, one of the most significant international efforts to establish legal accountability for the atrocities.
For the artists living in Bangladesh’s camps, however, the paintings placed the meaning of justice beyond a courtroom judgment: preserving their identity and history while seeking a future in which they can return to Burma safely and with full rights.
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