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Mohammad Rakibul Hasan wins Where the Leaves Fall issue #13 Photography Competition

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Every issue of Where the Leaves Fall features a themed photography competition, in partnership with OmVed Gardens. Five competition entrants are shortlisted with the winning photograph printed in WtLF magazine with a £250 GBP prize. Subscribe to our newsletter to be the first to hear about the next photography competition.

The topic for issue #13 competition was Roots, and the winner was Mohammad Rakibul Hasan, with a piece from his series The Blue Fig. It was set up with the community of Satkhira, as a reimagining of Leonardo da Vinci’s famous mural The Last Supper, and features 13 people from four local families sitting at the table with their remaining food as the lands around them become submerged.

Hasan said: “We are left with one bucket of rice and some vegetables for our 21 member family. Our lands went into the river, and with every passing year, calamities are hitting us hard.”

Mohammad Rakibul Hasan is a documentary photographer, filmmaker and visual artist from Bangladesh. His photographs and documentary films express the resilience of the human spirit and strength in adversity.

Bangladesh is a country on the frontlines of climate breakdown. The low-lying coastal regions are at increased risk of flooding, with the seawater leaving behind saline soil, affecting the ecosystems and limiting the growing possibilities of lands that have been farmed for generations. Local fishing communities are also having to adapt, with the availability of many local species in decline with the silting up of river beds, changes in temperature, earlier flooding and cyclones. People are having to adapt, change professions and migrate.

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