Head On Photo Festival 2019 - Delmar Gallery

4 – 26 May, 2019

EXODUS: ROHINGYA REFUGEE CRISIS BANGLADESH David Dare Parker

Sunday 12 November, 2017 A Rohingya elder stands gracefully with staff in hand, giving direction. Men row steadily, without so much as a glance in the direction of a small group of photographers wading out to greet them.

Women and children huddle together, quietly. The eight makeshift rafts, made of bamboo poles and yellow plastic palm oil containers, carry Rohingya refugees across the Naf River on a tide-dependent five-hour journey from Myanmar into Bangladesh.

This exodus from Rakhine state, Myanmar to the makeshift camps that have sprung up in Cox’s Bazar District, is a daily occurrence. Some arrive in the dark of night by fishing boat, where they wait, wet and shivering, on the beach until first light. Others wade across the river at low tide at the Anjuman Para border crossing point.

So far more than 650,000 people have fled into Bangladesh, swelling the camps and creating a humanitarian crisis.

The exodus began August 25, 2017, when militants from the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army targeted about 30 police posts and an army base, killing several people.

Myanmar’s security forces responded with a military campaign, which has been denounced by UN human rights chief Zeid Raad Al Hussein as a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing”.

The Rohingya refugees I spoke to in Balukhali refugee camp, one of several that have sprung up on near the Bangladesh-Myanmar border, told of the Burmese army destroying villages, raping and murdering Rohingya Muslims in Tula Toli (Min Gyi) village in Rakhine State on August 30, 2017.

Their stories were consistent with those told to Amnesty Internationaland Human Rights Watch: of soldiers shooting men and boys, women being beaten with sticks and raped, children thrown into the river to drown and huts set on fire - some with rape survivors locked inside.

The following accounts of the events of August 30 at Min Gyi were translated with the help of an interpreter.

Friday 10th November, 2017 The group of newly arrived Rohingya refugees stand shivering after their boat was capsized leaving them wet and without many of their possessions.

Nurul Azim, (28), with Humaira Begum, (25) holding Asmida, (10 months), from the village of Sindraong, Buthedaung, in Mayanmar. They stayed one month on the beach at the Myanmar border.

They paid 100000 Kiyate per person to the boatmen for the journey, starting at 12 am and arriving around 5:30am.

Sunday 12th November, 2017 After 16 - 20 days waiting on the Myanmar border, Rohingya refugees cross the Naf River into Bangladesh using eight make-shift rafts. Night time sees the refugees making camp alongside the road.

Noor Bahar, 35, is from Yangsong, in Buthedaung, Myanmar. She has 7 children the youngest is Anwar Khalek (1 year old), Abdul Khalek, (2) , Anwar Sadek, (4) Kamal Sadek, (3), Rokeya Begum and Kala Banu. Her husband was killed in 2016 by the Myanmar military.

After waiting for two months on the beach at the Myanmar border, she and her children made the 5-7 hour journey into Bangladesh with 500 other Rohingya refugees, crossing the Naf River using eight makeshift rafts.

Rajuma Begum is 20 years old. Her parents, two sisters and brother killed. Her baby killed and thrown on to a fire the Myanmar soldiers built outside her hut. Then she was raped, stabbed, and left for dead. Rajuma is a survivor of the massacre at Tula Toli (Min Gyi village), Myanmar. She tells her story while sitting inside her makeshift shelter at the Balukhali refugee camp at Cox’s Bazar District, Bangladesh.

Min Gyi is not the only village where there have been reports of destruction. Human Rights Watch has “identified 40 villages with building destruction occurring in October and November, increasing the total to 354 villages that have been partially or completely destroyed since August 25, 2017”.

The humanitarian group Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) on December 14 concluded that at least 6700 Rohingya were killed in the violence between August 25 and September 24, based on surveys of refugees in Bangladesh. More than 700 were children below the age of five.

30 November 2017

her husband and three sons in front of her and raped her. She drew Razia close, and pointed out I first photographed Momtaz Begum at the the scars where a soldier had struck repeatedly Balukhali food distribution centre, where she was sitting patiently, among hundreds of other refugees, with a machete. Both mother and daughter were then locked inside a burning hut and left to die. waiting for her turn to receive a bag of rice, a fresh Somehow they managed to escape and made bandage covering up burn marks on her face. their way to Bangladesh.

A week later I met Momtaz again, this time with her seven-year-old daughter Razia. I photographed Tula Toli (Min Gyi) is not the only village where there have been reports of destruction. Human Momtaz as she told her story while sitting inside Rights Watch has “identified 40 villages with their makeshift bamboo and plastic tarpaulin building destruction occurring in October and shelter at the Balukhali refugee camp. Both November, increasing the total to 354 villages that Momtaz and her daughter Razia are survivors have been partially or completely destroyed since of the massacre at Tula Toli (Min Gyi village) in August 25, 2017�.

Myanmar. She tells how Burmese soldiers killed

Zahir Ahmad (56). He lost his 15 family members, wife, sons, daughters, grandson and son-in-law.

He is a survivor of the Tula Toli (Min Gyi village) massacre in Myanmar inside a make-shift shelter at the Balukhali refugee camp at Cox’s Bazar District, Bangladesh

BKCFS centre, Rohingya refugee crisis, Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. Manjur Ali, (11) from Bolibazar, Maungdaw, Myanmar - uses art to describe what he witnessed in his village in Myanmar.

Sunday 12 November 2017 After 16 - 20 days waiting on the Myanmar border, Mubina Khatun, and her seven-day-old-baby, crossed the Naf River into Bangladesh on one of eight makeshift rafts. With the help of family members, to reach the border, she walked through a forest and crossed over a mountain while 9 months pregnant. Mubina left her home after her village was attacked by the Myanmar military.

26 November 2017 Rohingya refugees, Hasina Begum (18), Somira (12) & Riyajur Arfat (3), neighbours from the same village, Gonarpara, Bochidong, in Myanmar.

They arrived in Bangladesh by boat two months before. Bukhali Refugee Camp, Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh.

ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPHER “Photojournalism is a precarious, often frustrating, occasionally wonderful way of life. Photojournalists are not protected from the reality of what is happening in front of them and are not immune to the effects of human emotion. Whatever the motivation to pursue this type of work – whether it is a sense of tradition, professional principle or humanitarian concern – in the hands of these dedicated professionals the camera has become a significant story-telling tool. Whether they are completing a personal project in some remote part of the world or working alongside their colleagues in the latest hotspot, photojournalists will continue to offer us a glimpse into the human condition.”

- David Dare Parker

A Walkley Award winning photojournalist, David Dare Parker has photographed for many national and international magazines throughout Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Australasia. Publications include LeMonde, Stern, Focus, Australian Geographic, The Bulletin, The New York Times, Fortune, The Guardian and TIME Magazine. He is featured in the Australian War Memorial book ‘Contact’ – Australian War Photographers and WAR: Degree South.

Past reportage includes Timor-Leste’s struggle to gain independence and Indonesia’s first steps towards democracy. In January 2002 he was asked to co-ordinate a safety awareness course for Afghan Journalists in Peshawar, Pakistan for the International Federation of Journalists. During April and May of 2003 he was the Official War Photographer for the Australian War Memorial during Operation Falconer in the Middle East,

the first time an Official Photographer had been assigned by the AWM since the Korean War. During 2004 he was appointed journalist in residence at Murdoch University. He has also worked extensively in film, television and the performing arts. Clients include Perth Theatre Company, Black Swan Theatre, the WA Opera Company, Bell Shakespeare Company, ABC TV and Film Australia.

As a film industry production stills photographer, recent credits include Cloudstreet, Underbelly Razor, Bikie Wars: Brothers In Arms, Underbelly Badness, Redfern Now, An Accidental Soldier, The Turning, Son of a Gun, Kill Me Three Times, Paper Planes, Love Child 2, Hiding, Down Under, Jasper Jones, Whiteley and Breath.

He is a co-founder of Australia’s Reportage Festival, was a Director of FotoFreo Photographic

Festival, a Walkley Advisory Board Member and an Ambassador for Nikon Australia. He is a member of the collective °SOUTH and the SMPSP: The Society of Motion Picture Stills Photographers.

Recently he won the documentary category at the 2018 Australian Photography Awards and the Best Feature Photographic Essay at the 2018 WA Media Awards.

26 November 2017 Rohingya refugees, Hasina Begum (18), Somira (12) & Riyajur Arfat (3), neighbours from the same village, Gonarpara, Bochidong, in Myanmar. They arrived in Bangladesh by boat two months before. Bukhali Refugee Camp,9Cox’s Bazar,OF GATES Bangladesh

NO RETURN

Agata Grzybowska

After World War II, as a result of mass resettlements connected with alteration of Poland’s borders, many people were forced to relocate to Bieszczady, a town in south-east Poland.

During this time, it is estimated that Poland (also known as the Second Polish Republic) was inhabited by 5 million Ukrainians, out of which thousands remained within the new borders of post-war Poland. Between 1944-46 the first resettlement action took place where it is estimated 480 thousand Ukrainians were expelled to the Soviet Unions territories. A second resettlement program took place between 1947-1950 where another 140 000 inhabitants were resettled. Abandoned villages, houses and synagogues were burnt and destroyed, orthodox churches were plundered and demolished. Five centuries of Polish-Russian-Jewish history of Bieszczady was wiped from the face of the earth.

In the 1950s‚ Bieszczady became a mythical land of freedom - the perfect escape because they were a vacuum. These mountains were an asylum, a distant shelter for outsiders, outcasts, fugitives and exiles which provided an escape from their previous

lives. The protagonists of my photographs arrived in Bieszczady between 1950-1980. Each person migrated to the mountains for different reasons, and no one has chosen to leave.

They sought to find solace in the mountains, escape their old lives and conjure up a new sense of identity. The common experience and the linking point for my protagonists is the motive of abandonment, resignation from something or someone. They have abandoned their old lives to be alone and they share a specific understanding of freedom. The people I met and talked to have been confronted and altered by nature, the palms of their hands, damaged by physical labour. My protagonists live in solitude, often without electricity and running water; they have relinquished advancements and comforts of the city. Civilisation gives us something but also takes something away.

The photos are a series about loneliness — a desire to understand and empathise with individuals who seek solitude.

After World War II, as a result of mass resettlements connected with alteration of Poland’s borders, many people were forced to relocate to Bieszczady, a town in south-east Poland. During this time, it is estimated that Poland (also known as the Second Polish Republic) was inhabited by 5 million Ukrainians, out of which thousands remained within the new borders of post-war Poland. Between 1944-46 the first resettlement action took place where it is estimated 480 thousand Ukrainians were expelled to the Soviet Unions territories. A second resettlement program took place between 1947-1950 where another 140 000 inhabitants were resettled.

Abandoned villages, houses and synagogues were burnt and destroyed, orthodox churches were plundered and demolished. Five centuries of Polish-Russian-Jewish history of Bieszczady was wiped from the face of the earth.

In the 1950’s‚ Bieszczady became a mythical land of freedom- the perfect escape- because they were a vacuum. These mountains were an asylum, a distant shelter for outsiders, outcasts, fugitives and

exiles which provided an escape from their previous lives. The protagonists of my photographs arrived in Bieszczady between 1950-1980. Each person migrated to the mountains for different reasons, and no one has chosen to leave. They sought to find solace in the mountains, escape their old lives and conjure up a new sense of identity. The common experience and the linking point for my protagonists is the motive of abandonment, resignation from something or someone. They have abandoned their old lives to be alone and they share a specific understanding of freedom. The people I met and talked to have been confronted and altered by nature, the palms of their hands, damaged by physical labour. My protagonists live in solitude, often without electricity and running water; they have relinquished advancements and comforts of the city. Civilisation gives us something but also takes something away.

The photos are a series about loneliness— a desire to understand and empathise with individuals who seek solitude.

ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPHER “Since childhood I’ve been obsessed with the world ‘frozen’ in images. First, I preserved it in drawings, then I started to take photos.

Photo-reportage can describe why such a situation takes place, you can tell long stories through it. I don’t want to rush and publish photographs of people whose names I don’t know. Instead of going somewhere for a week, I want to go there for half a year, I need to understand those people and tell their stories. This way my work is fair.

II believe that loneliness is inscribed in this profession, that as a photojournalist or a reporter who travels to conflict zones you doom yourself to loneliness. But this was also the reason for which I chose to go to the Bieszczady Mountains: by trying to understand people who laid up in the mountains, I wanted to understand myself.”

- Agata Grzybowska

Agata Grzybowska (b. 1984) is a photojournalist based in Warsaw. She graduated in Photography from the Polish National Film, Television and Theatre School in Lodz.

She was the 2017 recipient of the Polish Ministry of Culture Young Poland grant for young artists. Her first book “9 Gates of No Return” was published in 2017 by BLOW UP PRESS, and has won various awards, notably Grand Press Photo and Moscow International Foto Awards.

In 2015 her photographs taken during “Black Thursday” in Kiev won The Picture of The Year 2015 at BZ WBK PRESS FOTO Competition.

Her works have been nominated for many prestigious awards, including the Grand Press Photo (2018, 2014, 2013) and Amnesty International (2013).

Grzybowska travels across the world depicting people in difficult, often life-threatening situations. She has worked in Syria, Uganda, India, Egypt, Romania, and Ukraine. While working, her principle is to get as close as possible to the individual in the centre of the story.

Her work has been exhibited extensively in Poland, Ukraine, Romania and Greece.