Amy Helene Johansson: A Lost Revolution?

"My heart is beating for this project and it would be wonderful if as many people as possible see it and get enlightened about the situation. " -Amy Helene Johansson

Prior to the boom in the garment industry, almost no women in Bangladesh worked outside of their family or marital homes, and had few opportunities to earn money. However today, the female garment workers are the backbone of the Bangladeshi economy in an industry that generates billions of dollars each year. It should be a women’s revolution, but is it?

While academics and economists agree to some extent that Bangladeshi women are in the midst of a revolution, they are still not empowered financially or socially. And are not strong enough to demand a fair remuneration. Multinational companies such as Nike, Levi Strauss and H&M are generally unaware of the life situation of sewing machine operators; their housing conditions, family structures, and food provisions.

Amy Helene Johansson is a photojournalist who studied film and theatre theory before earning a BA in fashion design. However, after a decade of working for H&M as a fashion designer, she discovered photography. Her work has been published in leading broadsheets and magazines in the UK and Sweden, including the Sunday Times UK, Dagens Nyheter and Sydsvenska Dagbladet. Her work has been awarded Asian Geographic Magazine ‘Faces of Asia Award’, the Foundry Emerging Photojournalist Award and the Swedish Picture Of the Year ‘Multimedia Category’ and been shortlisted for ELLE commission award and a National Geographic award.

She's also a Foundry Photojournalism Workshop (Manali, India and Istanbul) alum. A Lost Revolution was produced in collaboration with the Bombay Flying Club.