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Photography Exhibit on Statelessness


Christine Delp
Handprints on the walls of an abandoned school. The view from the inside out of a crumbling hut. The wrinkled hands of a woman holding a pair of glasses and her expired passport.

All are haunting images of Nowhere People, displaying from 6 July to 19 July at The Atrium in the Department of Justice and Equality. The exhibit, sponsored by the UNHCR, is the product of award-winning American photographer Greg Constantine’s ongoing project since 2005 to document the world’s stateless persons.
According to the UNHCR, there are nearly 12 million people around the world who are classified as stateless. Stateless people do not have a legal national identity, and many are denied basic human rights.

Constantine’s works reflect the concept of stolen identity. In one image from a rural village in Bangladesh, an Urdu-speaking 75-year-old refugee is shot alone in a pool of light, his outline illuminated but his face hidden in shadows. The memory of this man will never leave Constantine.

“A lot of stateless people are really lost in the shadows,” said Constantine. “Through these images, I can help show how statelessness affects people in their daily lives.” Constantine traveled back to Bangladesh two years after photographing the Urdu-speaking man to give him a copy of the image.

Members of the Rohingya community, one of the many stateless groups represented in the photographs, were also at the launch of the exhibit. Mohamed Rafique, 30, expressed his hope that the exhibit will rally the international community to put a stop to oppression against his people. “How many years will the Rohingya people be stateless?” asked Rafique. “I hope (viewers of the exhibit) will see the real situation of the Rohingya people.”

Variations of the exhibit have been showed around the world, including at the United Nation headquarters in New York. Reaching a high-level audience who has the power to spark change is exactly the hope of Constantine for his images. “This is about making an invisible condition visible.”

ENDS
UNHCR Ireland host Statelessness Exhibition




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