Misery of Myanmar Muslim refugees in focus at Tehran exhibit

TEHRAN.(Iranart) – “Border of Loneliness”, an exhibition of photos depicting the Myanmar Muslim refugees’ pain and sorrow, opened at the Iranian Photographers Center (IPC) of the Art Bureau in Tehran on Monday.

Noor Alam and Suman Paul, two photographers from Bangladesh, have recorded the bitter moments experienced by the Myanmar refugees while streaming across the border fleeing to Bangladesh in addition to their lives in camps and handmade shelters on the border of Bangladesh and Myanmar.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the exhibition, IPC director Ehsan Baqeri, said that Alam and Paul were commissioned by his center to prepare the collection after the IPC held talks with different Bangladeshi photographers.

“We agreed that they would approach the border and take photos preferably in black and white to better convey the pain and bitter feelings of the refugees, with some portraits on the highlight,” Baqeri added.

Alam, who was also attending the opening ceremony, said that he has witnessed the escape of over half million Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar toward Bangladesh and noted that children and the elderly have suffered the most.

He also added that he only wants to help the cry of the oppressed people of Myanmar be heard in the world.

A large number of photographers and officials, including the Deputy Foreign Minister for Asia-Pacific Affairs Ebrahim Rahimpur, attended the opening ceremony of the showcase, which will be running until November 8 at the center located on Somayyeh St., off Hafez Ave.

The Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar have long faced severe discrimination and were the targets of violence in 2012 that killed hundreds and drove about 140,000 people from their homes to camps.

More than half a million Muslims have fled Myanmar for Bangladesh since August.