Dhaka, Bangladesh

I couldn’t really find any piece of art that represented Jamaica, Queens (the place where I grew up), so I decided to show a piece of architecture that was a symbol of Bangladesh, where I went to over the summer.

The Shaheed Minar is a national monument built to memorialize those who lost their lives during the Bengali Language Movement of 1952. It’s the perfect representation of Bangladesh because it’s a symbol of a major reason why Bangladesh became independent – to have the right to its own language. By making demonstrations and fighting for the right to keep their language, many Bengali citizens lost their lives. The Shaheed Minar is both a memorial for those who died and a symbol of the importance of language.

I also decided to share this because we’ve just gone to a couple of memorials – you guys can compare this to the 9/11 and Vietnam memorials. Hope you guys like it!