Truth to Power: Shahidul Alam at Rubin Museum of Art

For the last forty years, Shahidul Alam as an inveterate practitioner, institution builder and humanist has worked towards the growth of photography and media practice in Bangladesh and the recognition of Bangladeshi practitioners across the world. His legacy includes not only his own photographs and the institutions he has built but also the positions he has adopted against authoritarianism and conservatism. In this vein, Alam has decisively used his camera to raise his voice against injustice by creatively deploying it both as a poetic and a journalistic device.

In recognition of this, the Rubin Museum of Art, New York opened the exhibition Shahidul Alam: Truth to Power on 8 November 2019 following his incarceration. Showcasing some of his most emphatic works, the exhibition included portraits, landscapes and scenes of daily life and struggle which speak of the dimensions of "documentary" representation, empowerment and truth. These have been curated from some of Alam’s important projects including A Struggle for Democracy, the Brahmaputra Diary series, and the unique sculptural installation of portraits on straw mats from Kalpana’s Warriors as well as his earlier work as a photojournalist. The exhibition also featured some of Alam’s new productions, including a three-dimensional model of the prison where he spent more than a hundred days in 2018. Truth to Power, for Alam, is a tribute to the numerous acts of resistance which have been triggered across the globe.

All images by Shahidul Alam.

Click on the image to view the album