A Window to Life

‘A Window to Life’ exhibition

Buxton St,

London E1 6SE

17th June - 30th August 2023

Artists: Mohammed Sawzeth, Mohammed Salim Khan, Zahangir Alam, Zonun Hubait, Minara, Mohammad Zubair, Md Saidul Hoque, Mohammed Zonaid, Ro Mo Sur Ali, Maniul Islam.

Curator: Veronica Revuelta Garrido

Collaborators: Refugee Week Festival, Counterpoints, Muslim Hands.

https://awindowtolifeexhibition.wordpress.com/what-do-the-photographs-tell-us/

This exhibition took the form of paste-up street art as a call to action and awareness campaign for the refugee experience. Street art can be seen as a form of protest challenging society and the urban landscape, and it is designed to be accessible sitting in public spaces with people engaging directly. The photographers live in the Cox’s Bazar District in Bangladesh, one of the largest camp in the world. These photographers are making possible the access to education and arts and craft there but, unfortunately, their work cannot reach more people and awareness about their situation as refugees but also as Rohingya, an ethical minority from Myanmar.

'A Window to Life' gives two ways of window view through photography and how the display is designed. First, for the audience to find a personal and equal view within the subject, without dramatising the forced displacement experience and removing the socio-political label that the word "refugee" is. The labels

accompanying the photographs were quotes from the Human Rights Act and International Migration Bills. Second, offering a view from these photographers' perspective, showing not just not their work but also who they are, their culture, their life. Showing themselves on their daily basis. This cross-viewing finds equality while shifting what most of the time the media shows us about these circumstances and challenging the new asylum and immigration bills.

Power in numbers:

People participating on the installation (from the audience) - 25

People engaging on the day of installation - 350

Total audience across two months - over 700