‘What I have learned so far but so profoundly is the desire of children of Shah Ali in expressing themselves and telling their stories in their own terms. This has positional to disrupt the prevailing politics of representations of marginalised children of global south, which sometimes valorises sufferings, despair and victimhood to raise the profile of the object of development, sometimes celebrate smiles of the rescued child to showcase development impacts in the expense of silencing and obscuring their experiences, thoughts, actions and opinions.’
- Mishu Asahan @mishuahasan .
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This collection of portraits ‘The Children of Shah Ali’ was taken as part of a video game character research that anthropologist Mishu Asahan was curating. eStreetwise is a video game that explores love and intimacy on the streets in Dhaka for kids like Johnny, Shoma, Munna etc. The children of Shah Ali styled themselves and were hands down the best models I have worked with. If I ever get to shoot for Calvin Klein or anyone I’m calling these folks up.