Where the smoke meets the sea

By Market Forces

November 3^rd, 2025

A new and unique photo exhibition by Bangladeshi photographer Noor Alam, is being mounted at Bonus Track Gallery 2 in Tokyo, November 2025.

The photography captures how the daily lives of communities in the Matarbari region of Southeastern Bangladesh - including fishing, farming, and family life by the sea - continue under the expanding shadow of coal and gas-fired power plants.

Through the lens of contemporary Bangladeshi society, "smoke" and "sea" symbolise livelihoods, loss, and transformation in the face of the climate crisis.

Betel leaf farmer Abdullah and many other farmers, have been displaced from their ancestral lands at Kalamarchara, Maheshkhali.

“I once had two kani of land where I used to grow betel leaf and other crops. The project authorities took all of it.”

After successfully preventing a massive new coal-fired power station, Bangladeshis in the Chattogram region are being pushed by foreign interests to accept huge polluting liquefied natural gas (LNG) power plants and infrastructure.

Monaza Begum prepares vegetables for her children and family in Matarbari after being displaced by a huge coal power plant.

“The coal power authority told us we would be compensated for everything, for the trees, for our homes, for the land itself. But then they have given us nothing. When they didn’t pay, we refused to leave. We said, ‘Where will we go if we give up our homes and land?’"

"Even when others had already left, we still didn’t want to go. Then the excavators came. They forced us out and destroyed everything: our houses, our trees, our land.”

Mohammad Belal, his father and family lost their farming lands when a massive industrial coal project in Moheshkali and Matarbari displaced the livelihoods of thousands of fish, salt and betel leaf farmers.

“My father is a farmer, and so am I. Our land was our only source of livelihood. The Bangladesh Coal Power Company has taken over this land. People are being harassed constantly.”

New liquefied natural gas (LNG) power projects and import terminals will cost the Bangladesh economy US$50 billion, according to a recent Market Forces report, threatening the safety and health of millions of Bangladeshis due to toxic pollution and worsening climate disasters, such as floods and cyclones.

Children play at the Matarbari resettlement area in the shadow of a coal power plant and polluting smoke stack, where 44 families are squeezed into a small area and there is not enough space for a children's playground.

Bangladeshi consumers are already bearing the brunt of high electricity bills, a situation set to worsen if the reliance on expensive imported LNG continues.

Living in the shadow of the enormous Matarbari coal power plant and its toxic pollution, children have extra duties and responsibilities to look after poultry, domestic animals and vegetable gardens in the area where they have been resettled nearby.

Umme Hafsa Khanom is one of many women who have set up a fashion and textile business to provide for their families after being displaced by monster coal power projects near Matarbari in Southeast Bangladesh.

As Bangladesh faces brutal heatwaves and demand for power soars, US$50 billion is set to be invested in the LNG industry worsening global warming.

However US$36 billion spent on gas power plants could instead be used to make Bangladesh a clean energy powerhouse, by enabling 62 Gigawatts of renewable power, over two times the country’s current total electricity generation capacity.

Salt farmer worker Bihaan sorts his precious cargo in Matarbari. Bihaan has many friends among thousands of salt workers who have lost their livelihoods without any compensation due to the Matarbari coal power plant.

The coal power station has been built on land used for shrimp, crab and salt farming.

Arin, a crab hunter, scours the banks of the Kohelia River, which has been filled by sand, clay and mud due the construction of a coal power plant and an industrial zone destroying the livelihoods of thousands of fisher folk.

Around the bay, Fisherman Mehedi Hasan cast his nets from sunrise to sunset, working tirelessly to provide for his children and family, fishing in the rainy season and salt farming in winter.

Mehedi was struck by lightning and killed last month in one of many freak storms which are happening more often in Bangladesh.

In a nearby village, Razia Begum says her goats, animals and her family kept her alive after losing homes when embankments collapsed. Sandbag sea walls protect her from storm surges.

“Three of my houses have been damaged, one collapsed, the last one still stands, but it’s also breaking down after they dredged sand for the coal power plant.”

Huge areas of sand were taken to build a massive coal power plant in Sightpara, Matarbari. Razia is working to build a safe home powered by solar energy.