Photography exhibition ends at Iranian Cultural Centre
Jamil Mahmud
“Gaza hit by new Israeli strikes”, “Israel defies UN call for truce, pounds Gaza”, “Israel puts media clamp on Gaza” — these are some of the news headlines over the last few days on the recent Israeli offensive over Gaza Strip. So far the death toll has crossed 850 including women and children.
Though so far rendered meaningless to Israel, nations are uniting to demonstrate their solidarity with the people of Gaza in different ways. Dhaka has seen public protests over the last few days. As part of that move, the Cultural Counsellor, Embassy of Islamic Republic of Iran, arranged a fortnight-long photography exhibition at the embassy premises in Dhanmondi. The exhibition ended yesterday.
Hundreds of photographs were on display most of which were taken during the December 27-29 raid in Gaza Strip by the Israeli troops.
The world observed the 60th anniversary of Universal Declaration of Human Rights last year but photographs at the exhibition suggest that the latest offensive by Israel snubs all forms of human rights violation claims.
A photograph showed corpses of five siblings — Jawaher, Dina, Samar, Ikram and Tahir — all aged between 4 and 17. The siblings were killed during an Israeli air raid that targeted a mosque near their home in Jabala. The impact of the image was jarring.
Many of the photos on display were so painful to watch that the organisers set an age limit for visitors. Several photographs featured people maimed by the Israeli attack.
Photographs at the exhibit also highlighted demonstrations around the world against the Israeli assault. One of these featured a demonstration by women holding placards that say, “Shame on Israel for killing women and children in Gaza.” Another shows children carrying posters that say, “Stop killing us.”
A photo taken on December 29 featuring a boy watching the funeral of three children in southern Gaza evokes the pain of Bahman Ghobadi’s child protagonists — Satellite, Agrin and Pashow — in “Turtles Can Fly”.
Courtesy: thedailystar.net
