Shahidul Alam with Hari Kunzru

Join us for a private opening of Shahidul Alam: Truth to Power before the exhibition opens to the public on Friday.

The exhibition presents the first comprehensive U.S. museum survey of Shahidul Alam, renowned Bangladeshi photographer, writer, activist, and institution-builder and Time magazine Person of the Year in 2018.

At this intimate event, Shahidul will be onstage and in conversation with Hari Kunzru, journalist and author of Gods without Men. The audience will then join Shahidul in the gallery to enjoy the exhibition together. This is a special night to share with a luminary photographer.

Tickets are very limited.

Presented with PEN America’s Artists at Risk Connection (ARC).

Shahidul Alam: Truth to Power is supported by Rasika and Girish Reddy, public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, Monika Parekh, and Sonny and Gita Mehta.

About the Speakers

A Time magazine Person of the Year for 2018, photographer, writer, and human rights activist Shahidul Alam obtained his PhD in chemistry from London University before taking up photography. Returning to his native country of Bangladesh in 1984, he campaigned to bring down autocratic General Hussain Muhammad Ershad. In his pursuit of social justice, he set up award-winning organizations: the Drik Picture Library (1989), an independent media agency that promotes work by local image-makers; the Pathshala South Asian Media Institute (1998), the first ever school of photography in South Asia; and Chobi Mela (2000), an international festival for photography. He also co-established the international photo agency Majority World. In August of 2018, he was detained for peacefully expressing his views against his government’s repressive practices.

His book My Journey as a Witness has been described by John Morris, the legendary picture editor of Life magazine, as the “most important book ever written by a photographer.” A recognized public speaker, Alam has lectured at Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, Stanford, and Yale Universities. His work has been exhibited at MoMA, Tate Modern, and the Centre Georges Pompidou. His awards include the Lucie Foundation Award, Frontline Club Tribute Award, the ICP Infinity Award, as well as the Shilpakala Award, the highest cultural award given to Bangladeshi artists. Alam is the only person of color to have chaired the prestigious international jury of World Press Photo. He is a visiting professor of Sunderland University and an honorary fellow of the Royal Photographic Society.

Hari Kunzru is the author of five novels including Gods without Men and, most recently, White Tears, a finalist for the PEN Jean Stein Award. His work has been translated into over 20 languages. His short stories and essays have appeared in publications including the New York Times, New Yorker, Guardian, New York Review of Books, Granta, October, and Frieze. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and has been a Cullman Fellow at the New York Public Library, a Guggenheim Fellow, and a Fellow of the American Academy in Berlin. He teaches in the Creative Writing program at New York University.