Shahidul Alam

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Dr. Alam at the Asia-Europe Emerging Photographers' Forum in Malaysia (May 2009)

Shahidul Alam[1] was born in 1955 in Dhaka, Bangladesh. He studied and taught chemistry in London where he obtained a PhD (Doctor of Philosophy) from the University of London.[1]


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 where he served for three terms.


In 1989 he set up Drik picture library and Pathshala: South Asian Institute of Photography[2]. He is also a director of Chobi Mela[3], the festival of photography in Asia.[4][2] Jury member of numerous competitions including World Press Photo where he has been a judge on four occasions, [5] he was the first person of colour to chair the international jury in World Press Photo history.


Awarded the Andrea Frank Foundation Award and the Howard Chapnick Award in 1998 he has also been awarded the Honorary Fellowships of the Bangladesh Photographic Society and later, the Royal Photographic Society in 2001, for his contribution to photography.


He is on the advisory board for the W. Eugene Smith 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. 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 16th, 2009 he was detained by the Indian Border Security Force while working on a project based on the river Brahmaputra at the Bangladesh side of the Rowmari-Sahapara border at the district of Jamalpur [6]. A message from Shahidul Alam came through at 18:21 on Tuesday 16 June when he called home to say that border security guards had asked him to come over to the Indian side where they detained him at Sahapara 21 IPP, across the border from Rowmari.[7] Following an online appeal movement by friends and family calling for his immediate release, Lt Col Mizan, commanding officer of Six Rifles Battalion, based at Jamalpur, appealed for his release after being contacted by supporters. "I have spoken to my counterpart in India and I have requested Shahidul Alam's release by tonight. Usually, hand overs do not take place at night, but he is a journalist, and my counterpart has agreed to hand him over tonight." [8]

There were mixed reports in the following day's newspaper. One Indian newspaper reported that he was "caught crossing the border" and handed to the Bangladesh Rifles following 6 hours of detention after he "admitted his mistake and accepted his fault". [9] to the BSF officers. The New Age newspaper reported that he had been "detained" after Indian border guards "on the other side called him ... and he went to them."[10]

At 3 am on June 17, after his release to Bangladeshi border officials, Alam called colleagues to say he had been arrested again but this time by Bangladeshi border guards. He was taken to a local police station and a case was filed by under the Control Entry Act/4,1978 Bangladesh. It is understand the charge relates to illegal entry. He appeared in court on Wednesday 17 June, and applied for bail which was granted.[11]. The case was eventually resolved on the 2nd August 2009.


[edit] References

  1. ^ Karim, Elita. "Changing the Face of Photography". The Daily Star. http://www.thedailystar.net/magazine/2008/02/02/achievement.htm. Retrieved 2008-06-07. 
  2. ^ "Chobi-Mela.". United News of Bangladesh (December, 2004). http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-5374669_ITM. Retrieved 2008-06-07. 
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