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Shahidul Alam
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Shahidul Alam was born in 1955 in Dhaka
Dhaka
Dhaka is the capital of Bangladesh and the principal city of Dhaka Division. Dhaka is a megacity and one of the major cities of South Asia. Located on the banks of the Buriganga River, Dhaka, along with its metropolitan area, had a population of over 15 million in 2010, making it the largest city...

, Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...

. He studied and taught chemistry in London where he obtained a PhD (Doctor of Philosophy) from the University of London
University of London
-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...

.

He started photography in 1980 and was awarded the Harvey Harris Trophy for being judged the best photographer of the year by the London Arts Council in 1983. He became the president of the Bangladesh Photographic Society
Bangladesh Photographic Society
Bangladesh Photographic Society was founded in 1976 by experienced photographers to organize practicing professional and amateur photographers in Bangladesh. It currently has over 3,500 members.-History:...

 where he served for three terms.

In 1989 he set up Drik picture library
Drik picture library
Drik Picture Library Ltd. is an award winning picture library set up by Bangladeshi writer and photographer Shahidul Alam and Bangladeshi writer and anthropologist Rahnuma Ahmed. The agency was set up in 1989 to provide a platform for local photographers in the majority world. The Sanskrit word...

 and in 1998 Pathshala
Pathshala
Pathshala, the South Asian Institute Media Academy was originally set up in 1998 by the Bangladesh photographer, writer and activist Shahidul Alam , as "Pathshala South Asian Institute of Photography". The school was phenomenally successful despite its limited infrastructure...

: South Asian Institute of Photography. He is also a director of Chobi Mela
Chobi Mela
Chobi Mela is a biennial international festival of photography held in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It is the largest festival of photography held in Asia. Chobi Mela VI will be held from the 21st January to 3rd February 2011. The theme is "Dreams." The key organisers are Drik Picture Library Ltd. and...

, the festival of photography in Asia. Jury member of numerous competitions including World Press Photo
World Press Photo
World Press Photo is an independent, non-profit organization based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Founded in 1955 the organization is known for holding the world's largest and most prestigious annual press photography contest....

 where he has been a judge on four occasions, he was the first person of colour to chair the international jury in World Press Photo history.

Alam was the first Asian recipient of the prestigious Mother Jones Award for Documentary Photography. His numerous other awards include the Andrea Frank Foundation Award and the Howard Chapnick Award. He has also been awarded the Honorary Fellowships of the Bangladesh Photographic Society and later, the Royal Photographic Society
Royal Photographic Society
The Royal Photographic Society is the world's oldest national photographic society. It was founded in London, United Kingdom in 1853 as The Photographic Society of London with the objective of promoting the Art and Science of Photography...

 in 2001, for his contribution to photography.

He is on the advisory board for the W. Eugene Smith
W. Eugene Smith
William Eugene Smith was an American photojournalist known for his refusal to compromise professional standards and his brutally vivid World War II photographs.- Life and work :...

 Memorial Fund and the National Geographic Society. He is visiting professor of Sunderland University in the UK and Regent's Lecturer at UCLA in the USA. He is an acclaimed public speaker and has lectured at Harvard and Stanford Universities in the USA, in Oxford and Cambridge Universities in the UK and in numerous prestigious academic institutions in Africa, Asia, Australia and Latin America. Alam is the founder chairman of Majority World, a global community interest initiative formed to provide a platform for indigenous photographers, photographic agencies and image collections from the majority world to gain access to global image markets.

On June 16, 2009 he was detained by the Indian Border Security Force
Border Security Force
The Border Security Force is a border patrol agency of the Government of India. Established on December 1, 1965, it is one of the Central Armed Police Forces. Its primary role is to guard India's international borders during peacetime and also prevent transnational crime...

 while working on a project based on the river Brahmaputra at the Bangladesh side of the Rowmari-Sahapara border at the district of Jamalpur
Jamalpur District
Jamalpur is a district in Dhaka Division, Bangladesh. The main Jamalpur town consists of 12 wards and 80 mahallas. The municipality was established in 1869. The area of the town is 53.28 km². The town has a population of 116754; male 51.06%, female 48.94%. Density of population is 2191 per...

 http://bdnews24.com/details.php?id=87461&cid=2 but was released after an international campaign was taken up for his release.

Alam set up the South Asian Media Academy. His recent exhibition "Crossfire" curated by Peruvian curator Jorge Villacorta
Jorge Villacorta
Jorge Villacorta is a Peruvian art critic and independent curator, with a strong interest in contemporary visual arts. He is co-founder and academic director of ATA....

 has been widely acclaimed, but was closed down by the police leading to nationwide protests. http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/16/showcase-137/http://www.demotix.com/news/283513/crossfire-exhibition-sparks-angry-police-reactionhttp://www.shahidulnews.com/2010/03/drik-photo-power/http://www.shahidulnews.com/2010/04/representing-%E2%80%98crossfire%E2%80%99-politics-art-and-photography/ The police barricade was removed after Drik’s lawyers served legal notice on the government. The court’s response and subsequent events enabled Drik to open the exhibition for public viewing on March 31.http://www.shahidulnews.com/2010/04/representing-‘crossfire’-politics-art-and-photography/

Alam was a curator of the show "Where Three Dreams Cross" at Whitechapel Gallery in London. The show subsequently went to the Fotomuseum Winterthur in Switzerland. A discussion on Alam's show "Crossfire" took place at the Tate Modern in London on the 18th September 2010.

His book "My journey as a witness" was published by the Italian fine art publisher Skira and the Bengal Foundation. It was launched in Dhaka on the 23rd September 2011. Introductions to the book have been written by Sebastiao Salgado
Sebastião Salgado
Sebastião Salgado is a Brazilian social documentary photographer and photojournalist.-Biography:Salgado was born on February 8, 1944 in Aimorés, in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. After a somewhat itinerant childhood, Salgado initially trained as an economist, earning a master’s degree in...

 and Raghu Rai
Raghu Rai
Raghu Rai is an Indian photographer and photojournalist. A protege of Henri Cartier-Bresson who appointed Rai, then a young photojournalist to Magnum Photos in 1977, which he co-founded....

.

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