World-renowned human rights lawyer and best-selling author Philippe Sands to headline exhibition event
(LONDON, February 11, 2025)—A powerful new exhibition of the award-winning photography of three Rohingya refugee artists and genocide survivors from Myanmar will debut at the Wiener Holocaust Library in London, Fortify Rights announced today. The groundbreaking exhibition, opening on February 18, 2025 and running until April 5, 2025, will feature the photography of Omal Khair, Dil Kayas, and Azimul Hasan—three Rohingya artists whose work captures the resilience, struggle, and humanity of their community amid the ongoing state-sponsored genocide in Myanmar’s Rakhine State.
All are welcome to attend the exhibition launch on the evening of February 18, 2025 at the Wiener Holocaust Library.
“I am honored to have my work showcased at the Wiener Holocaust Library in London. This exhibition is more than a platform for my work—it’s an opportunity to highlight the resilience and suffering of my Rohingya people, who have endured unimaginable hardship,” said Azimul Hasan, who will attend the London exhibition in person. “Let this exhibition remind us of the importance of empathy and inspire collective efforts to protect and uplift vulnerable communities like us around the world.”
As part of the exhibition, the Wiener Holocaust Library will also host an exclusive discussion between renowned international human rights barrister Philippe Sands KC, Fortify Rights CEO Matthew Smith, and Wiener Library Director Dr. Toby Simpson on February 26, 2025. Sands, a best-selling author and professor of law at University College London and Harvard Law School, is a key figure in The Gambia v. Myanmar, the landmark Rohingya genocide case at the International Court of Justice. The discussion will explore Myanmar’s ongoing atrocities, international justice efforts, and the global fight for Rohingya rights.
Both events are free and open to the public. Advanced registration is required for both the exhibition launch and the discussion with Philippe Sands.
“The Wiener Holocaust Library is a repository built by refugees from Nazism and survivors of the Holocaust. I am proud that our space is providing an opportunity for Rohingya people currently living in the world’s largest refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar to share their everyday lives with new audiences,” said Dr. Toby Simpson, Director of the Wiener Holocaust Library. “Refugees and displaced people have always faced difficulties in being seen and heard. I hope the exhibition will encourage people to think differently about what it means to have to flee to find safety and learn how people around the world are responding to humanitarian crises.”
The exhibition, entitled A Chance to Breathe—Photographs by Rohingya Refugees in Cox’s Bazar Camps, offers an intimate, rarely seen view of life in the world’s largest refugee camp. It is based on the critically acclaimed book A Chance to Breathe, which features the photography and poetry of Omal Khair, Dil Kayas, and Azimul Hasson. By telling their own stories through art, these Rohingya photographers challenge dominant narratives that often reduce their people to victims.
“Due to the enormity of the crimes against them, the Rohingya people are often seen solely through the lens of genocide,” said Matthew Smith, CEO and co-founder of Fortify Rights. “This exhibition is a powerful testament to Rohingya creativity, resilience, and refusal to be erased. This exhibition is about life, survival, and the strength of the human spirit. We are deeply grateful to the Wiener Holocaust Library for making it possible.”
Between 2018 and 2022, the three Rohingya artists received photography and storytelling training in refugee camps in Bangladesh through a media fellowship facilitated by Fortify Rights and Doha Debates. In 2020, the Rohingya artists, Fortify Rights, and Doha Debates won a Shorty Award for the project; in 2021, the project won a Communitas Award; and in 2022, it won an Anthem Award. The Rohingya artists have amassed thousands of social media followers, and their work has been exhibited in Doha, Qatar, Bangkok, Thailand and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Additionally, the 2021 documentary “Exodus,” produced by Fortify Rights and Doha Debates and directed by former Fortify Rights Senior Multimedia Specialist Taimoor Sobhan, follows the journey of the three photographers through their training and offers a look into their lives in Cox’s Bazar refugee camps.