MOHAMMAD RAKIBUL HASAN
The Forbidden Love

“I grow up in terrible loneliness. I wanted to talk to someone but no one was there to listen to me. I left home knowing that no one will come to take me back. I have never lived a normal life. And love has been always forbidden” – Lara (23), a transwoman and a professional dancer

At the beginning of hormone replacement therapy, Lara faced difficulties, but she is determined to continue transforming herself. However, that does not change how society views her. In Bangladesh, transgender people are subject to extensive daily abuse, having been abandoned by family and friends. Existing in a transphobic society is a barrier to enlightenment as a person in life. The featured individuals of the LGBTQ+ community share a wide variety of life narratives. Their poignant journey of life reveals untold stories that need to be heard.

The Photo Story seeks to elevate and celebrate love, portraying their desire to live within love. Their ways of expression, the bonding with their partners are enchanting, and this is how their photographs contributed to the deconstruction of stereotypes. And above all, this photo story is an attempt to find an infinite and beautiful gradient of the representation of love, beyond gender identities and the reflection of their personas.

I collaborate with the LGBTQ+ community to make the majority of people of Bangladesh and elsewhere that LGBTQ+ people have no difference like mass people – they are part of the broader spectrum of human diversity. This photography project advocate for societal and religious acceptance instead of pressure and oppression. To notice the society and the government, this project can help to continue the dialogue for their wellbeing and can advocate to get them right to love, live and marry by their choice.

Using interviews with the LGBTQR+ community in Bangladesh as source material, I recreate images of forbidden love as photographic tableaus.

Author
Mohammad Rakibul Hasan is a Dhaka, Bangladesh-based documentary photographer, filmmaker, visual artist, and art educator. His work explores human rights, social development, politics, the environment, and spirituality. Hasan was nominated for many international awards and won hundreds of photographic competitions worldwide, including the Lucie Award, Human Rights Press Award, and Allard Prize.
He pursued a One-Year Certificate in Creative Practices at the ICP – International Center of Photography, USA. Hasan holds a Postgraduate Certificate in Photography from Falmouth University and an Undergraduate Certificate in Art History and Philosophy from Oxford University. He also pursued a Postgraduate Diploma in Photojournalism from Ateneo de Manila University and graduated in Film & Video Production from UBS Film School at the University of Sydney. Hasan works as a visual journalist for the ZUMA Press, Redux Pictures, and Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Website
http://mrhasanphotos.com/

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