A photography project on the Rohingyas by photographer and graphic designer Anuj Arora is the latest addition to Prameya Art Foundation’s Discover series. Unsettled Identities, showcased online at praf.in, focuses on one of the most persecuted minorities in the world and one of the overlooked minorities in India – the Rohingyas Muslims.
Arora informs that there are around 900 Rohingya refugees at camps in Shaheen Bagh, Madanpur Khadar, Okhla and Vikaspuri. “While travelling to a friend’s house near Madanpur Khadar, I often chanced upon young Rohingya men chatting at streetside tea stalls.” Arora felt connected to the community as his grandparents fled Lahore in 1947 during the Partition and he grew up hearing stories about how difficult it was to rebuild their lives in New Delhi.
“This inherited memory and everyday proximity to the refugee camps prompted me to engage with contemporary instances of forced migration.” Arora came in contact with more Rohingyas during anti- CAA protests at Shaheen Bagh. “One of the leaders of the Rohingya refugee camp was concerned about the community as the verification process brought back memories of the processes orchestrated by the Myanmar government just before driving them out of their homes.
They were worried about being sent back, and also about their relatives still in the Rakhine state, Myanmar, as they were forced to share information on them in the verification form.”
This finalist of the well-known TOTO Photography Awards 2020 says that he is in touch with the families and his photographs are an attempt to “capture glimpses of friendship, care and community that I shared with them.”