I travelled to Sittwe in the beginning of July 2013, with the intention of documenting the situation of the internally displaced Rohingya community. When I arrived at the IDP camps, I was struck by the overwhelmingly high number of women and children in comparison to men. Bearing in mind that conflict affects the life of women in a fundmentally different way, I decided to focus on how the Arakanese-Rohingya conflict had affected the livelihoods and role of women within their community. Their stories of humiliation, rape and loss where unbearably hard to listen to, but their strength of character and resilience in face of despair revealed an unparalleled degree of humanity.

Photographs are part of a photo essay entitled ‘Acts of Resilience’

Marta Tucci is a freelance documentary photographer and writer. Her work focuses on developing long-term projects that explore issues of identity and social exclusion, paying close attention to the plight of displaced and marginalized communities in the aftermath of war. 

http://www.martatucci.com

All images © 2013 Marta Tucci