Attachments
Launch of Rohingya Cultural Memory Centre
IOM and the Rohingya community have jointly launched the Rohingya Cultural Memory Centre (RCMC), a multidisciplinary initiative which provides an online community space, interactive gallery, digital archive, and web-based exhibition, and one of the first signicant attempts to comprehensively document and preserve the heritage of the Rohingya people.
In 2019, IOM researchers started collecting and documenting cultural practices and objects shared amongst the Rohingya community from Rakhine State in neighboring Myanmar. The centre tells the story of the Rohingya people through a comprehensive collection of cultural artefacts and artworks researched and produced by Rohingya refugee artists and artisans living in the camps. These eorts produced a thorough ethnographic map, detailing activities central to Rohingya identity.
By providing the Rohingya community with the tools and platform to tell their story, the RCMC addresses the “identity crisis” named by three-quarters of the refugees as a key factor in their loss of well-being. The RCMC strives to function as a vehicle that preserves and enhances their rich culture, contributing towards strengthening the collective identity of the Rohingya population.
The collection is a portrait of a culture reecting on its past, present and future, exploring the tensions between tradition and innovation, imagination and memory, displacement and belonging. It combines objects of tangible and intangible heritage, ranging from traditional architectural models to embroidery, pottery, basketry, woodwork, visual arts, music, storytelling, poetry, and more.
The RCMC collection is only accessible online for the time being, but IOM is nalizing the construction of an integrated multi-service hall. The structure will include exhibition and workshop spaces and will be fully managed by the Rohingya community.
All the artisans and researchers involved in RCMC activities receive proper acknowledgment and authorship for their work. Additionally, the centre’s artists-in-residence programme allows them to explore new processes and materials, innovating their crafts and creating new skills development opportunities. A dedicated Rohingya team is being trained to operate and manage the RCMC and its educational programmes.
Read more about the Rohingya Cultural Memory Centre here