Shahidul Alam

Shahidul Alam (born 1955) is a Bangladeshi photojournalist, teacher and social activist.

He has been a photographer for more than forty years and "his photographs have been published in almost every major western media outlet".

Kazi Shahidul Alam was born in Dacca, East Pakistan (modern-day Bangladesh) in 1955 and grew up at Dhanmondi.

He was one of the three children of physician Kazi Abul Monsur and child psychologist Anwara Monsur.

He belongs to the Kazi family of Rajapur in Faridpur district.

This family was founded by Kazi Abdur Rasool, son of Shah Azimuddin, who was said to have been descended from the Arab Muslim general Khalid ibn al-Walid and have been appointed as Kazi in Mughal Bengal.

In his childhood, he used to float through Dhaka's congested arteries atop his slight fold-up bicycle.

He studied at the boarding school Jhenidah Cadet College.

Shahidul Alam took his undergraduate education in the University of Liverpool.

During his time in Liverpool, he made a habit of walking in the streets in his lungi, a traditional South Asian garment.

In his college year, he was introduced to activism through his involvement with the Socialist Workers Party.

He graduated from the university in 1976 by earning his BSc in biochemistry and genetics.

Shahidul Alam relocated to London for his Doctor of Philosophy study at Bedford College, University of London.

Shahidul Alam started to take an interest in photograph during his time in London.

At Bedford, he also worked as a research chemist to invent alternative printing processes for photographs.

In 1983, he won the Harvey Harris Trophy from London Arts Council for a photograph that he took.

This boosted his confidence in pursuing a career in photography.

At the same year, he received his D.Phil in organic chemistry.

Shahidul Alam founded the Drik Picture Library in 1989, the Pathshala South Asian Media Institute in Dhaka in 1998, "which has trained hundreds of photographers", and the Chobi Mela International Photography Festival in 1999.

Shahidul Alam is a visiting professor at the University of Sunderland in the UK.

In 1989, he set up Drik Picture Library and in 1998, Pathshala South Asian Institute of Photography (later Pathshala South Asian Media Institute), in Dhaka.

Pathshala "has trained hundreds of photographers".

Shahidul Alam founded the Chobi Mela International Photography Festival in 1999 and remains a director.

He has been a judge of the World Press Photo competition on four occasions, and was the first Asian chair of its judging panel.

He was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Photographic Society in 2001.

He was a member of the jury board of The BOBs' award.

"His photographs have been published in almost every major western media outlet, including the New York Times, Time magazine and National Geographic".

Shahidul Alam set up the South Asian Media Academy.

He has covered news events including natural disasters, governmental upheavals, the deaths of garment factory workers, human rights abuses, Bangladeshi government and military's repression and the "disappearances" of political opponents.

His books include Nature's Fury (2007) and My Journey as a Witness (2011).

His 2010 exhibition on extrajudicial killings named as Crossfire curated by Peruvian curator Jorge Villacorta has been widely acclaimed, but was closed down by the police leading to nationwide protests.

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 31 March.

In 2010, he co-curated the exhibition Where Three Dreams Cross at Whitechapel Gallery in London.

In 2012, he participated in the inaugural Kochi-Muziris Biennale held in Kerala, India.

In 2014, Shahidul Alam was awarded the Shilpakala Padak by the President of Bangladesh and in 2018 the Humanitarian Award from the Lucie Awards.

He was one of the persons of the year selected by Time magazine in 2018.

On 5 August 2018, Shahidul Alam was arrested and detained shortly after giving an interview to Al Jazeera and posting live videos on Facebook that criticized the government's violent response to the 2018 Bangladesh road-safety protests.

Many international humanitarian organisations and news media called for his release without charge.

He was granted bail on 20 November 2018.