When communities are evicted and forced to flee their country, through no fault of theirs, the only thing of value they can carry away is memories of their homeland and past lives. In order to salvage what they have lost, people try to represent them through textural patterns in their costume and architecture, in their food, cultural norms and in notions of belonging.
Perhaps the largest such displacement has happened in Palestine. It is tragic that when Palestinians were evicted, they locked their houses and kept the keys in the hope that would come back one day. The key has now become a symbol of their rights to a land that appears to be lost. This has become a myth among the Palestinians.
Keffiyeh is a traditional Arab headdress. In the backdrop of the Palestinian struggle, the keffiyeh has become an icon of solidarity and a symbol of freedom, identity and existence.
During the famine in Yemen, Mahbubur Rahman followed the conflict via news and online reports. It was painful to see the sufferings of children and ordinary citizens, who had nothing to do with geopolitics.  They were nevertheless subjected to hunger and starvation.
Operation Magic Carpet was a massive post-WWII operation to repatriate American soldiers stranded in Asia, Pacific and Europe. War and conflict have since given rise to many similar operations requiring the transportation of large numbers of people to safe destinations. Sometimes, the magic carpet awakens hope by transporting people to the cherished place of their dreams.

how can I identify myself
how can I identify others or their homeland
How will we recognise our land and claim the land
Memory, my visual experience, smell, knowledge from my ma, my baba, my family-
All this will remain in my mind until my death
(Mahbubur Rahman)