Welcome to the Family
For Dr. Arifur Rahman, pre-pandemic life was just about him and his wife, Radwa Elshennawy. Rahman moved to Honolulu, HI from Bangladesh for his doctoral studies in 2015, and eventually got married to Egyptian born and raised Elshennaway in 2018. Despite their cultural differences, what binds them together is their religion.
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What interested me in pursuing this story for the Eddie Adams Workshop is their firstborn. Just like others, coronavirus pandemic has stopped their lives. However, their baby boy remained at the core of their activities during the state-wide stay-at-home order. I mostly photographed in their one-bedroom apartment, portraying their lifestyle as a Muslim immigrant family during a lockdown. After the husband became jobless, they could share more time, bringing them closer as a family. Although my first angle with the story was to show cultural differences, it took a turn when everything in the apartment started revolving around the baby.
This story was self-pitched and produced for Eddie Adams Workshop XXXIII







