WE LIVE TO FIGHT

During the British period, various martial arts were introduced to protect Bangladeshi villagers from Zamindars (landowners), who would send bamboo bludgeon-wielding Lathial groups to forcibly collect taxes. The official journey of the sport, however, began after the nation's liberation from Pakistan in 1971 with the founding of the Bangladesh Judo and Karate Federation in 1972 and the Bangladesh Martial Arts Confederation in 1997.

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Still considered an underground sport, martial arts is nevertheless popular, and many clubs provide basic self-defense training to children, especially so that girls can fend off sexual assaults. Many children also learn martial arts as a form of entertainment, and many adult martial artists - male and female - work in the entertainment industry, promoting martial arts through film and TV. Additionally, some indigenous communities in Bangladesh also practice martial arts. However, despite great success on an international level, many players and even clubs find themselves in tight financial situations due to lack of funding and media attention.

“We Live to Fight” is an ongoing project that explores the underlying cultures, lifestyles, emotions, history, personal stories, politics, and underground fighting scenarios of different martial arts communities in Bangladesh.

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This project was one of the finalists in The W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund for Student Photographers 2021 and recipient of The Alexia Student Grant 2023. This is an ongoing project and on this page, I have uploaded a short edit of this ongoing project.