Drik Picture Library

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

Drik Picture Library
দৃক
TypePrivate
HeadquartersDhaka, Bangladesh
FieldsPhotography
OwnerShahidul Alam
Websitedrik.net

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, the Bangladesh Human Rights Network, and DrikNEWS, independent news that extensively uses citizen journalism. Drik has also 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 South Asian Media Institute

Pathshala, the South Asian 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 Media and Journalism. It provides a Bachelors degree in photography which is, however, not recognised 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] Alumna Taslima Akhter has won several awards, including the Best Photographer Award from the 5th Dali International Photography Exhibition in China.[11]

Since 2002, Pathshala alumni GMB Akash, Munem Wasif, Andrew Biraj, Prito Reza, Sarker Protick and Saiful Huq Omi have been selected for the Joop Swart Masterclass run by World Press Photo.[12][13][14][15] 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".

References
  1. "Network partnerships: Drik Picture Library, Dhaka, Bangladesh", Prince Claus Fund. Archived by the Wayback Machine on 4 July 2010.
  2. Fair Trade Photography Archived 21 June 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  3. Alam, Shahidul (3 February 2008). "Ten Years of Pathshala". The South Asian (Blog). Archived from the original on 6 July 2012.
  4. "Inside Bangladesh". Edith Magazine. Edith Cowan University. 4 December 2014. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
  5. http://www.newagebd.com/2009/sep/14/time.html%5B%5D.
  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 Archived 22 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine"
  11. "Taslima Akhter". World Press Photo. Retrieved 4 November 2016.
  12. "Year in Culture". The Daily Star. 31 December 2010. Retrieved 16 June 2015.
  13. "Students revel in exposure to fragile world". Canon. December 2007. Retrieved 16 June 2015.
  14. "Andrew Biraj". World Press Photo. Retrieved 16 June 2015.
  15. "CPN at the World Press Photo Awards Days". Canon. May 2010. Retrieved 16 June 2015.

Further reading
  • Gerhard Haupt and Pat Binder, "Drik: Images for change", Nafas.
  • "Drik Picture Library", Images against war, Galerie Lichtblick.
  • Saad Hammadi, "Drik turns 18", New Age Xtra, 7–13 September 2007. Archived by the Wayback Machine on 18 December 2010.
  • "Drik Picture Library Ltd", photography-now.com. Archived by the Wayback Machine on 10 February 2012.
  • Indira Ravindran and Laila Duggan, "Case study 1: Drik: Out of focus"; in Jane Foster and Kumi Naidoo, eds, Young people at the centre: Participation and social change (London: Commonwealth Secretariat, 2001; ISBN 0-85092-681-5).
  • "Drik/Pathsala – Bangladesh", International Photographers and Researchers Network. Archived by the Wayback Machine on 1 July 2007. "Noscript text reads: UK to Bangladesh Host for Arabella Plouviez and Associate Partner / DRIK and Pathshala are the primary educational and managing agencies for photographic education and photo journalism in Bangladesh and SE Asia. Their programme is delivered in Dhaka and consists of an affiliated course to the University of Sunderland. The organisations design and deliver the major SE Asian photography celebration Chobi Mela to a wide range of international photographers and institutions. They have a long track record of producing exhibitions and projects that provide a wider view of the political and economic realities of Bangladesh."
  • "New from the Network – 12 September 2007: Events and training: Drik celebrates 18th birthday with new exhibition – Bangladesh Now", Creative Exchange. Archived by the Wayback Machine on 24 March 2008.
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