Saltwater Lives
Muhammad Amdad Hossain | Bangladesh
Photographer: Muhammad Amdad Hossain
Exhibit Title: Saltwater Lives
Location: Bangladesh
On the southwestern coast of Bangladesh, where the Sibsa and Kholpetua rivers meet the Bay of Bengal, climate change has permanently altered the relationship between land and water. In Satkhira district, rising sea levels, cyclones, and broken embankments have pushed saltwater deep inland, turning once-fertile land and freshwater sources saline. Since Cyclone Aila in 2009, this intrusion has lingered for years, reshaping livelihoods, health, and daily survival.
In villages such as Gabura, Koyra, Kalabogi, and Shyamnagar, families adapt to this slow-moving crisis through necessity. Women and children travel long distances to collect drinkable water from distant ponds or NGO-supported tanks. Rainwater is harvested, stored, and rationed with care, becoming a central part of household life. Seasonal migration has separated families, while fragile homes built on bamboo stilts remain exposed to unpredictable tides.
These photographs document communities living with saltwater—not as passive victims, but as active agents of adaptation. Through everyday acts of resilience, they continue to rebuild, endure, and redefine life on the frontline of climate change.
I am a documentary photographer from Bangladesh working on long-term visual stories about climate change, water crisis, and displacement. Growing up in a delta shaped by rivers and monsoon cycles, I have witnessed how environmental change quietly but relentlessly reshapes lives. My practice focuses on communities living at the frontline of climate impact—where survival depends not on grand solutions, but on daily acts of adaptation.
Through sustained fieldwork and close engagement with affected communities, I aim to document not only loss, but resilience, agency, and dignity. I am particularly interested in how women, children, and marginalized groups carry the burden of environmental collapse while also leading invisible systems of survival—collecting water, rebuilding homes, and preserving family life amid uncertainty.
Photography, for me, is a tool for witnessing and accountability. By centering lived experience rather than spectacle, my work seeks to contribute to broader conversations on systemic change, climate justice, and the human cost of environmental neglect.
Name: Muhammad Amdad Hossain
Country: Bangladesh
Location: Chattogram, Bangladesh
Email: amdadphoto@gmail.com
Website: https://amdadphoto.com
Instagram: @amdad.photo
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