Drik Picture Library

Drik Picture Library
দৃক
Type Private
Headquarters Dhaka, Bangladesh
Fields Photography
Owner Shahidul Alam
Website drik.net

Drik Picture Library Ltd. is a picture library based in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Background

Drik Picture Library was set up by Bangladeshi writer and photographer Shahidul Alam and Bangladeshi writer and anthropologist Rahnuma Ahmed that has been awarded a grant by the Prince Claus Fund.[1] The agency was set up in 1989 to provide a platform for local photographers in the majority world.[1] Drik is Sanskrit for vision.[1] Drik has gone on to provide media services that include web development, video production, print production and exhibitions. In 1998 it set up Pathshala, the South Asian Institute of Photography, and Chobi Mela, the first festival of photography in Asia. Drik uses new media extensively in its activism and introduced email to Bangladesh in the early nineties. It also set up Banglarights,[note 1] the Bangladesh Human Rights Network, and DrikNews,[note 2] independent news that extensively uses citizen journalism. More recently, Drik set up Majority World, an unprecedented photo library and agency set up to promote the work of photographers from the Global South and to promote Fair Trade Photography.[2] It is headquartered in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, but also has branch offices in India and the UK.

Pathshala

Pathshala, the South Asian Institute Media Institute was set up in 1998 by the Bangladesh photographer, writer and activist Shahidul Alam, as "Pathshala South Asian Institute of Photography".[3]

It is affiliated to Sunderland University and Bolton University in the UK; Oslo University College in Norway; Edith Cowan University in Australia;[4] and The Danish School of Journalism. It provides a Bachelors degree in photography which is, however, not recognized by the University Grants Commission (UGC) or National University[5][6] Affiliation with the country's oldest university, Dhaka University, is in process.

The school has however received death threats by fundamentalists claiming photography is un-Islamic.[7] Students have been active in social movements[8] and have organised exhibitions addressing social concerns at overseas events.[9]

Pathshala, after consultations with international and local experts and local stakeholders, has now been set up as a media academy, to help strengthen other fields of media.

Students

Student awards have included first prize in World Press Photo Contest, The National Geographic All Roads Awards, and the Prix Pictet. Several students have made it to the Photo District News' 'PDN's 30 2008'[10] and other lists.

Since 2002, Pathshala alumni GMB Akash, Munem Wasif, Andrew Biraj, and Saiful Huq Omi have been selected for the Joop Swart Masterclass run by World Press Photo.[11][12][13][14] Pathshala alumni Khaled Hasan and Saiful Huq Omi have won the National Geographic All Roads Awards, while alumni Munem Wasif received the Prix Pictet Commission on "Water".

Notes

  1. The website of Banglarights is here.
  2. The website of DrikNews is here.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Network partnerships: Drik Picture Library, Dhaka, Bangladesh", Prince Claus Fund. Archived by the Wayback Machine on 4 July 2010.
  2. Fair Trade Photography
  3. Alam, Shahidul (3 February 2008). "Ten Years of Pathshala". The South Asian (Blog). Archived from the original on 6 July 2012.
  4. "Photomedia Summer School in international photo journalism and documentary photography". Edith Cowan University. Retrieved 16 June 2015.
  5. http://www.newagebd.com/2009/sep/14/time.html.
  6. "Pathshala graduates get certificates, chief airs anger". bdnews24.com. 7 August 2009. Retrieved 16 June 2015.
  7. Shah, Angilee (29 May 2007). "Bangladesh: Photography students receive death threats". AsiaMedia. Asia Institute, UCLA.
  8. "Portfolios at Pathshala". The Chobi Mela Files (Blog). 7 November 2006.
  9. "Mobile Photography Exhibition Spreads Message in Sri Lanka". World Bank Sri Lanka. Archived from the original on 16 June 2008. Retrieved 4 July 2008.
  10. "PDN's 30"
  11. "Year in Culture". The Daily Star. 31 December 2010. Retrieved 16 June 2015.
  12. "Students revel in exposure to fragile world". Canon. December 2007. Retrieved 16 June 2015.
  13. "Andrew Biraj". World Press Photo. Retrieved 16 June 2015.
  14. "CPN at the World Press Photo Awards Days". Canon. May 2010. Retrieved 16 June 2015.

Further reading

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Wednesday, July 29, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.