Threads of Return: Zines from a Riverbank in Ruin

Threads of Return by Labani Jangi is drawn from the experience of Bengali Muslim migrant workers, who ask: what document can protect us? What record can shield us from the violence we face outside our own state?

The magazines that tell their story are printed on discarded handloom fabric, cloth that the villagers could no longer sell. They draw what they see and fear: the shutting down of looms, the slow destruction of their village by the river, and handmade maps of Bahirchara. These maps carry their quiet resolve. Even if the river swallows the village one day, they want to remember its shape.