L'Asie Maintenant program focuses on the photographs of photojournalist Anne de Henning of the Bangladesh Liberation War. Witnessing History in the Making is curated by Ruxmini Reckvana Q Choudhury and produced by the Samdani Art Foundation and the Center for Research and Information (CRI).

Fifty years after Bangladesh was recognised as a nation, Witnessing History in the Making brings together rare images taken during the Liberation War by French photographer Anne de Henning. Between 1971 and 1972, the young photojournalist captured the birth of the nation, and her remarkable archive of photographs are a unique record of the pivotal years which saw East Pakistan transformed into Bangladesh. Presented in her home city for the first time, the exhibition honours the risk taken by de Henning in travelling to Bangladesh to document these historic scenes.

The earliest set of photographs from 1971 cover de Henning’s initial visit to the country when she was just 25. One of the first photojournalists to enter Bangladesh after the declaration of war – when there was little news emerging from the country – she recalls: ‘ The first striking memory I have is of my crossing to East Pakistan from India in the blistering heat and dead silence ’. Looking back on her first encounter with the Mukti Bahini, a guerrilla resistance movement consisting of military, paramilitary and civilians during the Liberation War, she says: ‘ I saw a handful of young Mukti Bahinis stepping out of their makeshift observation post flanked by a tall bamboo pole flying the green, red and yellow Bangladesh flag. They greeted me by saying with broad smiles: “You are now in free Bangladesh!” ’