Where fire failed, light prevails: ‘Alo’ exhibition at Prothom Alo

When I entered the ground floor of Prothom Alo, the first thing I noticed was black – the kind of black that smells of hatred and seems to thicken the very air. Barely an inch of the space had escaped the fire. Everything had been burnt.

A step forward, I saw soft light breaking through the darkness. A small garden had been placed amid the ruins. Green leaves, tender shoots and the hum of life emerged from what was once devastation.

That very contrast – destruction and resilience, darkness and light – lies at the heart of "Alo", the exhibition that now inhabits the five-storey building at Karwan Bazar.

On 18 December 2025, Karwan Bazar became the scene of a calculated strike against Bangladesh's free press. A mob attacked the headquarters of Prothom Alo, obstructing firefighters and law enforcement officers, and reducing the five-storey building to charred rubble.

That night, The Daily Star and the cultural institution Chhayanaut were also targeted. For those inside the media, and for the city at large, the message was clear: dissent and free thought were under fire.

Yet, exactly two months later, the building has risen from the ashes – this time not as a newsroom, but as an exhibition titled "Alo" (Light), which will run until 28 February.

Visitors approaching the building first encounter a garden-like setting, a deliberate counterpoint to the blackened façade.

A graffiti mural stretches across a burnt shutter. Inside, four life-sized sculptures fashioned from damaged fire extinguishers stand in a ground-floor room. These were the tools that failed on the night the fire raged. Excerpts from Syed Shamsul Haque's Nuruldiner Sarajibon can also be seen on the wall.

Light projections, soundscapes and video elements fill the space, while interviews with staff who once worked in the building overlay the ruins with memory and testimony.

The exhibition is the work of Mahbubur Rahman. "My mind went blank. An endless sense of emptiness engulfed me… I felt like an alien who had suddenly arrived on a different planet," Mahbubur Rahman reflected on the night of the attack.

The interior was an "immense black backdrop", he said, layered with veils of darkness and charred debris. Objects once functional had been transformed into unintelligible forms by the fire, yet they now form the raw material for his installation.

On the second floor, burnt and half-burnt books are displayed like a wounded archive. The third floor holds two large metal structures – one square, one pyramidal – assembled from warped and melted remnants.

Behind them hangs a black flag with star motifs. On the fourth floor, doves emerge from the debris.

Throughout the exhibition, light, sound, video, photography, sculpture and text interplay, inevitably turning destruction itself into a powerful expression of courage and hope. Mahbubur Rahman stated that the goal is to awaken life within lifelessness, to place other colours beside black, and to make the dead vibrant once more.

Even after the unimaginable level of destruction, within just 17 hours, the newspaper's online platform was restored. By 20 December, the print edition had returned.

Speaking at the inauguration, Mahfuz Anam, the editor of The Daily Star, underscored the broader implications of the attack. "This was not just an attack on two newspapers," he said. "This was an attempt to set fire to free thought. It was an attack on freedom, on journalism and on the collective strength of independent thinking that our nation needs."

He recounted how 27 staff members of The Daily Star were trapped on the rooftop during the fire, struggling to breathe, and praised the resilience of journalists who returned to publishing within 24 hours. Mahfuz Anam called for an impartial government investigation to hold the perpetrators accountable.

Matiur Rahman, the editor of Prothom Alo, in his remarks, paid tribute to artist Mahbubur Rahman's dedication, noting that he had spent a month travelling between countries, working day and night.

Matiur Rahman also used the occasion to address long-standing divisions within the journalistic community. "We do not want that division to continue in the future," he said, pledging solidarity across editorial lines whenever the media faces attack.

He cited past assaults on newspapers, including Naya Diganta, Sangram, Jaijaidin and Amar Desh, noting that Prothom Alo condemned each incident and acted in defence of press freedom. "Truth and courage," he emphasised, "must guide us forward."

The exhibition "Alo" at Prothom Alo's Karwan Bazar building is open from 18 February to 28 February 2026. Daily visiting hours are 11:00 am to 1:00 pm and 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm.