Faces of Desperation

Published in The Washington Post.

The Covid-19 pandemic had an awful impact on the economy of Bangladesh. The months of lockdown following the pandemic made the situation more difficult for the people who represent the low-income group. Mostly, the street vendors, hawkers, rickshaw pullers, drivers, maids, vegetable – fruit sellers, day laborers have to work on daily basis to earn their bread and butter. Due to the pandemic & lockdown they have faced profession shift, economic status shift and financial crisis. The International Monetary Fund has called this current moment the worst recession since the Great Depression. This portrait series tells stories of the daily wage workers of Dhaka, who had to force to risk their lives to earn money in this unsparing pandemic. The photographer documented this unfolding crisis in June on the streets of his neighborhood, Dhanmondi, in central Dhaka which was one of the red zones of the city.