Image description: A rusted chain and brass-coloured padlock arranged on a pale surface
English editorial note
Bangladesh · context under review
Illustrative editorial story
What an object can say about restraint
A chain and padlock can make a systems problem visible without showing the person who may have been restrained. The object asks difficult questions: When families have no acceptable care nearby, what choices remain? How does fear become attached to the person in crisis rather than to the absence of support? The photograph cannot answer those questions, but it can keep them from disappearing.