Life in the Cage by Mohammad Shahnewaz Khan, created between 2020 and 2022 in Chittagong, Bangladesh, documents the intimate daily life of the photographer’s extended family under the government-enforced Covid-19 lockdown. For the first time in his career, Khan turned the camera inward to examine his own domestic sphere.
Against the backdrop of a nationwide shutdown that began on March 26, 2020, the project emerged in a climate of fear and uncertainty, especially in a densely populated country with limited healthcare resources. With hospitals overwhelmed and families isolated, the home became a kind of domestic cage. Navigating this transformed setting, Life in the Cage examines the balance between intimacy and claustrophobia in a multigenerational household, alongside the mental health effects.
Visually, the series moves through confined interiors, capturing slivers of routine and rupture. Compositions include family meals, shared prayers, illness, injuries, and quiet reflections—sometimes with Khan himself in the frame. Technically speaking, the project blends observational and participatory strategies, with Khan’s wife operating the camera at times to include him in the frame.
Life in the Cage has become Khan’s most widely recognised project. Critics emphasise its courage and tenderness, noting how its intimate record of one family resonates as a universal chronicle of confinement, vulnerability, and resilience during the pandemic.
