1971 immortalised in Anne de Henning's wartime photos in exhibition for 8 days

A freedom fighter and a kid posing with bow and arrow, immortalised in the photo by French photographer Anne de Henning, symbolizes the undying spirit of a nation fighting for its freedom.

The acclaimed photographer made a secret entry to Bangladesh through Indian border along with her colleagues in April 1971 to capture the stories of this land being ravaged by the Pakistan occupation army.

Pakistan had deported foreign journalists from the war ground since the genocide it had started carrying out on the unarmed people of Bangladesh on the fateful night of 25 March 1971. But, the creative eyes of Henning must reveal the chapter that the military muscle of Pakistan must seal.

Photo: Courtesy

Those wartime photos ranging from a house devastated by the weapons of Pakistan army to a lungi-clad smiling boy with a gun slung on his shoulder were exhibited under the title of Freedom in the making: Bangladesh. Samdani Art Foundation and Centre for Research & Information (CRI) organised the exhibition. CRI Trustee and State Minister for Power Nasrul Hamid Bipu took a tour of the photos at Liberation War Museum on Thursday.

The exhibition celebrates her revisit to the country after 50 years. Anne de Henning will also revisit some of the places from 1971.

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Her photos captured the vacant eyes of the refugees desperately seeking a pathway to safety from the mass murder of Bengalis in the hand of Pakistan army and its collaborators. They also bring back to life the resistance demonstrated by Bangladeshis to the genocide as one of the photos shows people hoisting black flags in protest.

"Other striking sights were the empty streets of small towns and villages I walked through. Some houses in Kushtia showed the scars of recent shelling by Pakistani Sabre jets. An eerie silence also reigned here. In Kushtia and Pangsha hundreds of young men had gathered to ask us to tell the world about their plight and their dire need for modern military equipment," said Henning.

The artistic expression behind the photo series earned praises from Forbes that termed it "So intense and so fragile" while covering its exhibition in France.

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As Bangladesh became independent driving out the last soldier of the occupation army of Pakistan on 16 December 1971, Anne de Henning made her second visit to Bangladesh, capturing the photos of Bangabandhu.

Photo: Courtesy

The colour photos of Bangabandhu that she clicked are among the few surviving ones to this date as most of them were destroyed by the military dictators following the 1975 assassination of Bangabandhu.