Shahidul Alam

Who is Shahidul Alam?

Shahidul Alam was born in 1955 in Dhaka, Bangladesh. He studied and taught chemistry in London where he obtained a PhD from the University of London.

Alam's work has been shown at leading museums and galleries in the world, such as the Museum of Modern Art in New York, The Georges Pompidou Centre in Paris, The Tehran Museum of Contemporary Arts, the National Art Gallery in Malaysia and the Tate Modern in Britain.

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 in 1998, Pathshala: South Asian Institute of Photography. He is also a director of Chobi Mela, the festival of photography in Asia. Jury member of numerous competitions including World Press Photo 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 in 2001, for his contribution to photography.