The birth of Bangladesh in photographs
Anne de Henning’s unpublished photographs from 1971 and 1972 taken in Bangladesh are being shown for the first time
An exhibition of some unpublished photographs of the Liberation War taken by the French photographer Anne de Henning in 1971 and 1972 has begun in Dhaka as part of the celebration of the birth centenary of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the golden jubilee of the nation's independence.
State Minister for Cultural Affairs KM Khalid inaugurated the solo photo-exhibition at Gallery-4, National Art Gallery Building at Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy on Friday.
The Centre for Research and Information (CRI) – the research wing of the ruling Awami League – and Samdani Art Foundation arranged the exhibition titled "Witnessing History in the Making: Photographs by Anne de Henning, Bangladesh 1971-1972".
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De Henning's photographs from 1971 and 1972 taken in Bangladesh remained unpublished and are being shown for the first time after 50 years.
CRI's trustee and Power, Energy and Mineral Resources State Minister Nasrul Hamid and Samdani Art Foundation president Nadia Samdani were also present at the event.
Nasrul Hamid said, "Anne de Henning then entered Bangladesh via Kushtia via Kolkata in a dilapidated vehicle. Braving all odds, her fearless attempts at documenting the Liberation War and expose Pakistani force's atrocity to the whole world are exemplary."
State Minister for Cultural Affairs KM Khalid said history will always be the same, maybe the way of telling it may be different. Anne De Henning was covering the Vietnam War at that time. Hearing about the Liberation War of Bangladesh, she travelled miles and stood by the people.
"Anne de Henning's sense of respect for Bangabandhu compelled her to return to Bangladesh in 1972. Standing beside war-torn Bangladesh's people by a French photojournalist is a matter of great inspiration to our new generation," he added.
The 22-day exhibition will remain open to all from 10am-8pm every day and 3pm to 8pm on Fridays and Saturdays. The event will end on 31 December.
De Henning first visited Bangladesh in 1971, the time when the war of independence was going on and she moved across the country capturing the brutal reality of the war, photographing freedom fighters, families, refugee trains, and women fleeing villages.
Recalling de Henning's first encounter with the Mukti Bahini, she said, "I saw a handful of young Mukti Bahinis stepping out of their makeshift observation post flanked by a tall bamboo pole flying the green, red and yellow Bangladesh flag. They greeted me by saying with a broad smile: 'You are now in free Bangladesh!'"
"The first striking memory I have is of my crossing to East Pakistan from India in the blistering heat and dead silence," she also said.
During her second visit to the country in 1972, Anne met Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman before he delivered his speech to the Awami League's first council meeting that year.
In her personal archive, she preserved some photos of refugees, including women and children taking the trains to flee the atrocities of the Pakistan army. Those photos are the glimpses of Bangladesh's emergence as a sovereign country.
Many photos of Bangabandhu were systematically destroyed after he and most of his family were killed in 1975. Some photos, however, remained with a few collectors, and Henning is one of them.
