Granting wishes to cancer-stricken children

Every year, 95 out of 100 children in Bangladesh who get diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia lose their battle to the cancer, due to the lack of treatment. Children from poverty-stricken backgrounds are most likely to leave the disease untreated, or at some point of treatment, cannot continue due to financial crisis.

Farhana Satu

21 photos of such children who have suffered from the disease have been exhibited in Farhana Satu's solo exhibition, titled Onkur. Among these children, only two of them were able to win their battle against the cancer. Organised by Mongol Deep Foundation, the exhibition is being held at Batighar-Smritite Shorone Aly Zaker. It was inaugurated on November 20, at the rooftop of Asiatic Centre. The exhibition has been curated by Protick Sarker.

Farhana is a Dhaka-based photojournalist and documentary photographer, who highlighted the lives of these children through her works. The stories of these children are often overlooked. Being a student of law, she chose to learn photography, and pursue her passion as a photographer. She took her diploma degree in professional photography from Pathshala South Asian Media Institute and Danish School of Media and Journalism.

She has been photographs of these children since 2016, making them live their desired lives, even if for a little while. "When I started taking their photos initially, I used to take photos in a documentary-like approach, then I realised that they are not fully participating in the process. I just wanted to spread some happiness on their faces."

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Two years without Aly Zaker

She started to make friends with them. "I asked them what would they would desire to become. One of them replied that he wants to be a superman, because by that he can fly to his favourite place whenever he wants. Another child said that he wants to be a magician." After knowing this Farhana arranged the props for them to live out their dreams to her lens. Her actions brought unending joy to the childrens' faces. "Sadly, most of them are no longer with us."

Farhana informs that she met these children in the palliatives of different hospitals, and she identified that these children could not afford to continue their treatment. The photographer ultimately decided to work on the children who could not run their treatment due to financial instability.  

"I hope that people will buy my photos, so that I can donate the amount to at least one or two of those children, who can get cured with treatment."

Iresh Zaker, one of the founding members of Batighar-Smritite Shorone Aly Zaker, shared that as their first exhibition, this subject is the most appropriate. "My father lost his battle against cancer after fighting for four years. Since he was financially able, he took the best treatment from the best hospital in this world, and yet we lost him." Iresh asserted, "These children are not able to even minimal treatment due to their financial status, thus from our end, it is an effort to create an awareness and let people extend their hands to save these children." Iresh informs that they plan to hold at least 5 exhibitions every year, for the promising artistes for absolutely free of cost. "We want to support the promising artistes, to showcase their work in order for them to get appreciated and get monetised from their work."

The open-for-all exhibition will run until December 3. Although gates open from 3 pm, the emotions behind the photographs are best understood after the sun sets.