When French photographer Anne de Henning was visually documenting wartime stories of Bangladesh in 1971, a youth urged her to let the world know about the atrocities committed by the Pakistan army. The acclaimed photographer, now 76, went back to her 25-year-old self while talking to journalists at the exhibition “Witnessing History in the Making: Photographs by Anne de Henning”. Samdani Art Foundation and Centre for Research and Information (CRI) jointly organized the event at Liberation War Museum. The exhibition opened on Friday. "Back in 1971, when I was capturing the stories of Bangladesh, a youth narrated how innocent people were being murdered and requested me to let the world hear about it," she told journalists as she was revisiting Bangladesh after 50 long years. Read: Anne de Henning’s rare photos of Bangladesh’s birth, Bangabandhu to have Dhaka exhibit Dec 15-24

Commemorating the life and works of the iconic French photographer Marc Riboud, best known for his photojournalistic works in Bangladesh during the 1971 Liberation War, a month-long solo photography exhibition titled ‘Bangladesh 1971: Mourning and Morning’ was inaugurated on Saturday at the Liberation War Museum (LWM), Agargaon in the capital. Jointly organised by LWM and Alliance Française de Dhaka (AFD), the opening ceremony of the exhibition was joined by Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen as the chief guest. French Ambassador to Bangladesh Jean-Marin Schuh attended the inaugural event as the guest of honour, while AFD’s newly appointed director François Grosjean, LWM trustee and member secretary Sara Zaker, exhibition co-curator Mofidul Hoque and LWM trustee Dr Sarwar Ali joined the programme as special guests. Lorène Duret, the other curator of the exhibition, alongside Catherine Chaine Riboud, widow of Marc Riboud, virtually joined the inaugural event from France. “This is surely a remarkable day for us, as we are celebrating the never-seen-before magnificent photographic works of Marc Riboud during our 1971 Liberation War. Our Ministry of Foreign Affairs will always be there if any sort of support is needed, for the acceleration of this wonderful exhibition,” FM Dr Momen said at the ceremony. He added, “As the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, we have been implementing initiatives such as Economic Diplomacy which demonstrates the roadmap of our economic activities and achievements, and Public Diplomacy, to let the world know about the remarkable progress of Bangladesh that we achieved in the past 12 years. We have established a ‘Bangabandhu Corner’ in each of our diplomatic missions, to let the world learn about the sacrifices our Father of the Nation made; as well as the unique and tragic sacrifices of our Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.”