Habiba Nowrose, a photographer from Bangladesh who has documented the life of Saleha, a climate migrant who is also a member of Kalyanpur Firefighting Group in Dhaka. She is a part of ‘Shattering Stereotypes’ a Women by Women photography exhibition by ActionAid on Wednesday 15 September at the iconic gallery@oxo.
Habiba holds an MS in women’s and gender studies from the University of Dhaka and is particularly interested in subjects that explore human relationships and gender identities. Her series, Concealed, was a finalist for the 2018 Invisible Photographers Awards and Samdani Art Award 2020. The series explores the sacrifice women make every day to fit society's standards of beauty. Habiba’s works have been exhibited on many different platforms across Asia and beyond.
In an exclusive interview with Asian Voice, she spoke about climate migrants and her work.
Describe your observations on climate migrants.
Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change and the climate change in Bangladesh takes many different forms like natural disasters and this causes people to lose their homes and migrate to Dhakar city. Dhakar city doesn’t have the capacity to accommodate so many people who migrate every year and that’s why they take shelter in informal settlements in slums and they struggle every day to meet their basic human needs.
I have one or two observations about the climate migrants I have worked with. They're very flexible, they're open to changes and they're not afraid to take on new practices to make a living, because they've left their homes and livelihoods behind. They are more adaptable to changes and newer ways of making a living in Dhaka, and they have acquired that ability through the process of migrating from a village to a bigger city.
How do you think women migrant lives are different from others?
Women face an added layer of struggle when they become climate migrants because of their gender. Although men are traditionally thought to be the breadwinner of the family, women are responsible for taking care of and feeding the children. It is difficult for them to put food on the table when they become climate migrants because they are leaving their livelihoods behind in their ancestral homes.
What kind of preparation does it take for you to be able to do justice to such a sensitive and important topic?
It can be difficult to do an assignment on a topic like this if you don't know the challenges and problems that your subjects are used to facing. Whenever I have a topic like this, I usually talk to experts or people who have written about it, researched it or know about it, and I do my own research by reading articles and books and talking to professionals. After gaining some understanding of the topic, although it may not be as in-depth as that of the traditional experts, I try to make myself as informed as possible and then I try to do the assignment.
What kind of stereotypes against women do you wish to break?
We hear about many different stereotypes when it comes to women. No matter the class or race, some sort of stereotype will be working against them. For climate migrants, in particular, there is an idea that these women are victims and do not have their own agency or the skills to cope with changing situations. Of course, they face an added layer of difficulty because they are struggling in a city in which they do not have a permanent home. However, I think they are more skilled and equipped to adapt to the new challenges of life in Dhaka. Unlike what we think of them, they are very innovative and open to change. They can adapt to new circumstances. That is the biggest stereotype about climate migrants that I would want to break.
What are your thoughts on the theme 'Women by women'? How can women support their own tribe?
ActionAid UK's "Women by Women" initiative is a really creative way of changing how women are portrayed through images and visual media. Women can support other women by using their voices if they are in a more powerful position, by promoting the work of other women and giving them more access to new opportunities, and by creating a positive impact when it comes to representing other women.
What are the challenges of being a woman in a creative pursuit?
The biggest challenge faced by women in creative fields is that their work is often not valued as much as men's work, and they get fewer opportunities. Their work is categorised unequally as "women's work" in a special category separate from mainstream men's work.
