After years of dedication, collaboration, and creative perseverance, a powerful milestone has been achieved—the Rohingya community now has its very own community art space, envisioned, designed, and painted entirely by Rohingya teaching artists, with the active participation of the broader community.
This space is not just a Structure—it’s a living testament to the resilience, creativity, and cultural depth of the Rohingya people. It marks a historic achievement: for the first time, a refugee-led community art initiative of this scale has been fully realized by Rohingya artists themselves, reclaiming their narrative and identity through art.
Having worked alongside these teaching artists for a long time through Artolution, I could not be more proud. I’ve witnessed firsthand the growth of a generation of Rohingya youth who, through years of dedication, have developed powerful visual storytelling skills. They’ve explored and expressed their inner world, heritage, and hopes, transforming trauma into creativity and displacement into community-driven change.
What makes this journey truly extraordinary is that it’s not just an art project—it’s a cultural movement, a movement led by refugee artists, built from the ground up, and rooted in community participation. Together with Artolution, the Rohingya artists have created something rare in the context of refugee histories: a self-sustaining, artist-led, culturally grounded creative platform that extends beyond temporary aid or employment.
This space stands as a signature of hope, resilience, and the unbreakable spirit of art and identity. It is a successful conclusion to one journey—and the powerful beginning of many more.
By Abdur Rashid Manik
Photo: Courtesy
