Anthropologist and documentary photographer Moshfiqur Rahman Johan has captured the in-depth reality of family members and relatives of victims of enforced disappearances in his solo photo exhibition under way at the Nalinikanta Bhattasali Gallery of Bangladesh National Museum in the capital.  Â
The seven-day exhibition, ‘Goom: Jaan O Jaban’, is featuring 108 photographs of traumas, struggles, protests and daily life of families of the victims along with newspaper cutting, closed-circuit television footage, family albums and diaries taken between 2021 and 2024.
Organised by ‘Mayer Dak’ and curated by Sarker Protick, the exhibition captured 17 families of victims of enforced disappearances by several government law enforce agencies from 2013 to 2019.
Moshfiqur Rahman said that he had observed the family members of the victims, especially women and children, who had been protesting at the streets for the trace of their beloved family members.
‘Those protests inspired me to capture the photographs as they were fighting against the most powerful institutions of the state,’ mentioned Moshfiqur Rahman.
Although Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League fascist government steeped down, the family do not know the trace of the victim people, he shared.
‘I would like to work more on this project. I also urge everyone to be aware about the enforced disappearances happened in the country in the past so that no one can disappear in future,’ urged Moshfiqur.Â
A visitor of the exhibition, Farhan Farzia, said that Sheikh Hasina used to apply the Digital Security Act to keep the people’s mouth shut in the country.
Hasina made crossfire and enforced disappearances as normal in the country, Farhan pointed out, demanding the list of the enforced disappearances.
Inaugurated on August 31, the exhibition will remain open on Friday.