Sahat Zia Hero

Sahat Zia Hero is a documentary photographer, writer, and human rights activist and consultant. He is a founder and editor of Rohingyatographer Magazine, a documentary Photography Magazine published by talent Rohingya Refugee Photographers based in the Refugee Camp in Bangladesh. As a member of the Rohingya minority, he has experienced firsthand the systematic discrimination against his community in Myanmar. Born in 1994 in Maungdaw Township, Arakan, he was excluded from attending his second year at Sittwe University in 2012 due to this discrimination. In August 2017, Sahat and his family were forced to flee to Bangladesh where they currently reside in a refugee camp. After arriving, he worked as a team leader for the Danish Refugee Council, advocating for the rights of Rohingya refugees. Sahat's international background has influenced his work, as he regularly contributes photographs to various NGOs and international media outlets. His work has been published by The Guardian, NBC, Al Jazeera, VICE World News, Visual Rebellion Myanmar, The Territorial News, UNHCR, UNO, Danish Refugee Council, Norwegian Refugee Council, Minority Rights Group International and Amnesty International. His photographs have been exhibited at the Oxford Human Rights Festival in 2021, the Liberation War Museum in Dhaka, the Cox’s Bazar Cultural Centre, and the Head On Photo Festival in Sydney in 2022. In addition to his photography, Sahat is also a writer with published work on Forced Migration Review, Lacuna Magazine, Himal Southasian, Journal on Migration and Human Security, and Migrant Voice. In March 2021, he lost everything in a devastating fire that left 50,000 Rohingya homeless in the refugee camp. Nevertheless, he was able to document the unfolding of the event with the camera on his phone and published his first photobook titled Rohingyatography in 2021. To read more, please check https://www.rohingyatographer.org/sahat-zia-hero