as drik as possible
TRANSCRIPT
As Drik as Possible
ASM Rezaur Rahman, Binimoy Printers Ltd., Emad Uddin, Md. Main Uddin, Md. Mostafa Sorower,
Md. Moinul Hassan, Nazmul Hasan, Qumrunnaher Hossain Kali, Rahnuma Ahmed, Reshad Kamal,
Saiful Islam, Shahidul Alam, Shabnam Siddique were involved in the production of this calendar.
Cover Photo: © Pablo Corral Vega.
© Suman Kanti Paul
Drikbashi, the famiy members of Drik, are the people who have kept the torch lit. Their
skill, their passion and their belief in the values of an egalitarian society is the core
strength of the organisation.
A behind the scenes glimpse at a remarkable media phenomenon:
The dot matrix Olivetti printer was noisy. The XT computer came without a
hard drive: two floppy disks uploaded the operating system. When the
electricity went (as it often did), we had to reload it. Our bathroom doubled
as our darkroom. A clunky metal cabinet housed our prints, slides,
negatives and files. Md. Anisur Rahman and Abu Naser Siddique were our
printers; I was photographer, manager, copy editor and part-time janitor.
Cheryle Yin-Lo, an Australian who had read about us in a western
magazine, joined as our librarian. We o�ered and she happily accepted a
local salary.
My partner Rahnuma Ahmed often got roped in when we were
short-sta�ed. That was 25 years ago. Little experience and zero cash rarely
got in the way: we started publishing from day one. Postcards, bookmarks
(often using o�cuts from the press) and even a company calendar were
produced by friendly printers who printed on credit. Residents of
Bangladesh’s capital, Dhaka, used to seeing flowers, pretty women,
mosques and waterfalls, suddenly woke up to social messages in black and
white on their wall calendars. It worked, and we were able to sell them
door-to-door and pay back the printers – until there was a flood and half
our stock got inundated.
Tired of being pitied for our poverty, and do-gooder attempts to ‘save’ us,
we had decided to become our own storytellers. And did we have stories
to tell! Our agency Drik, grew, and we picked up many loyal friends and
several powerful enemies along the way. Knowing we had to compete
with better-resourced entities in the west, we set up the nation’s first
email network using Fidonet. Banglarights, our human rights portal,
annoyed the government; our telephone lines were switched o� for 30
months. Our exhibitions, political and often critical of the establishment,
got turned down by mainstream galleries, so we built our own. The
government sent riot police to close down our shows on several occasions.
Being stabbed in the street, arrested, and generally persecuted became
some of the more troubling after-e�ects of our activism, but a nationwide
campaign to reopen our gallery, and a court ruling in our favour, convinced
us that the person on the street was on our side. That was all the
ammunition we needed.
Along the way, we had set up a photo school, Pathshala, now recognized as
being among the finest in the world. We also set up a photo festival, Chobi
Mela. Again, a highlight of the Asian cultural calendar. Geed up by what we’d
achieved in Bangladesh, we set our sights on challenging the global world
order. Majority World was born, a platform for local photographers from
Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East with their own stories to tell.
Activism didn’t pay the bills though and competing in the market place,
often with professionals we ourselves had trained, required us to remain
cutting edge. Clients cared less for ‘good intentions’ than they did for good
delivery and value for money. It was comforting therefore when a
prestigious international client, mentioned in the ‘special instruction’
section that she wanted the work to be “As Drik as possible.”
As the organisation grew, we needed better management, stricter
controls, increased e�ciency and lower costs. This led to a culture shift
which didn’t come easily to a group that had grown up like a family and
had gotten used to working in a particular way. Our new CEO reminded us,
that producing the perfect product was gratifying, but getting it to market
on time and within budget, was just as important.
Drik today is a role model for the majority world, but a world that is
changing. Twenty five years ago, it made sense to start from the ground
up. Today we tap into fine professionals we ourselves have groomed, and
take them to the international arena. Long term strategy, succession plans
and a more global vision are the concerns of the day. It’s a lean, agile and
creative organisation run by a younger team, ready for tomorrow.
Drik’s ultimate strength however, has been the people who have rallied
around us. This includes the people who work here, but goes way beyond
it. People, all across the globe, across all conventional barriers, who have
believed in us, and stood by us, in the many di�cult moments we’ve
shared, through many dark nights and days. We owe our very survival to
them. Some we have lost forever. Others have stayed away from the
limelight, happy to bask in our success from afar. While they have never
wanted or expected anything in return, we shall remain indebted to them.
This publication is a tribute to them all.
As
Drik
as
Poss
ible
Shahidul Alam
"Our people are driven by a terrible sense of deficiency. When the last tree is cut, the last fish is caught,
and the last river is polluted; when to breathe the air is sickening, you will realize, too late, that wealth is
not in bank accounts and that you can’t eat money." Alanis Obomsawin.
© Abir Abdullah from his series on climate change
Harnessing the power of photography
*Government holiday, subject to sighting of the moonwww.drik.net
Poet Jasimuddin’s birthday
Convinced that ensuring professional standards in
mainstream media was a prerequisite for building a
democratic and pluralistic environment, Drik undertook
professional training for regional journalists. Working
with Panos South Asia, Drik set up a temporary picture
desk at the leading English Daily, the Daily Star.
Participants from Pakistan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and
Bangladesh worked with Sri Lankan photographer
Dominic Sansoni and Dutch picture editor Nicole Robbers
to change the visual approach of Bangladeshi
newspapers. The need for quality photographic training
also led to the formation of Pathshala, the South Asian
Media Institute, now considered one of the finest schools
of photography in the world. Abir Abdullah, was a
student of the first batch in Pathshala.
© Anonymous
History has always been written by the victor and Drik has taken concrete steps to rewrite our distorted
history. While the disasters of the garment industry are well known, the fact that the finest fabric ever
made was the muslin from Bengal, has often been overlooked. Drik has taken on the challenging task of
writing the history of Bengal muslin and reviving a lost craft and heritage. A book, exhibition and film
opening this month, make up the muslin festival organised by Drik.
© Tapash Paul
The past and the present
*Government holiday, subject to sighting of the moonwww.drik.net
Poet Jibanananda Das’ birthday
International Mother Language Day
Lessons from the past, are often the
guidebooks to the future. Through
in-depth analysis and rigorous research,
Drik has critiqued and drawn inferences
from the recent political history of the
nation. Through presenting facts and
connecting the dots, the publication
department has brought out numerous
high quality publications that provide
rare insights into the complex
undercurrents and political intrigue that
the nation is immersed in. Author:
Rahnuma Ahmed.
© Shahidul Alam
Drik works with a network of talented photographers who are rooted to their communities. Local culture,
indigenous practice and untold stories are brought to the fore. They enrich a fine collection at the Drik
library, the first photo library in Bangladesh and one of the earliest in the region.
© Naima Perveen
Nurturing the storytellers
*Government holiday, subject to sighting of the moonwww.drik.net
Poet Lalon’s Sadhu-Songho
International Women’s Day
Birthday of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
In the analogue days of transparencies and cupboards,
Drik’s librarian Foizun Nessa Begum Shilpi files away
tagged and keyworded images in archival sleeves.
© Abir Abdullah
Photographers from the majority world have refused to become circumscribed by western stereotypes and
have tried to provide a more nuanced, complex and holistic understanding of our cultures. Munem Wasif’s
observations on Islam is informed by his own growing up in a Muslim family that seamlessly embraced
many rites, characteristic of other religions. Part of Wasif’s series “In God We Trust”. Wasif studied at
Pathshala, and worked at DrikNews. He is currently with the agency VU.
© Munem Wasif
Challenging the stereotypes
*Government holiday, subject to sighting of the moonwww.drik.net
World Health Day
International Day for theElimination of Child Labour
Bangla New Year
Rana Plaza collapse
Setting up Chobi Mela, the first photo festival in Asia, was
one of the many initiatives of Drik. Aware that galleries are
elitist spaces, the organisation ensured that alongside
high quality seminars and presentations by the worlds’
finest professionals, there would also be events for the
public. Mobile exhibitions of the festival went to football
fields, school grounds, bazaars and other public places,
ensuring no one would be left out of Drik’s events.
© Md. Main Uddin
Breaking news has been the domain of big budget wire agencies. DrikNews challenges this monopoly by
providing news as it happens, through an online delivery system to mainstream media nationally and
internationally. However, it doesn’t restrict itself to ‘big’ news stories defined by mainstream political interest,
but also provides, through its country-wide network of rural correspondents, stories of rural Bangladesh.
© Anonymous
Beyond the headlines
*Government holiday, subject to sighting of the moonwww.drik.net
Poet Kazi Nazrul Islam’s birthday
World Mother’s Day
May Day World Press Freedom Day
*Buddha Purnima
*Shab-e-Barat
Poet Rabindranath Tagore’s birthday
Unfettered by party a�liation or corporate control,
DrikNews consistently provides news photographs which
are of public interest regardless of the vested interest of
the power elite.
© Ranak Martin
“I feel like a mermaid. My body tells me that I am a man but my soul tells me that I am a woman. I am like
a flower, a flower that is made of paper. I shall always be loved from a distance, never to be touched and
without a smell to fall in love with.” Heena (52).
© Shahria Sharmeen from her series on transexuals
Humanising the other
*Government holiday, subject to sighting of the moonwww.drik.net
Jahanara Imam’s deathanniversary
Santal rebellion (1855)
World Environment Day
Poet Sufia Kamal’s birthday
World Refugee Day
Once, one of the few galleries in the country that would
showcase photography, and still the only one prepared to
directly critique the military or other powerful
establishments, the Drik gallery has inspired others to
follow suit. None more so than Pathshala, originally its
education wing, but now an independent educational
institution. Pathshala maintains Drik’s political
engagement, but has also extended the medium of
photography, particularly in its curatorial approach. 1134:
Lives not numbers was a moving testament to the
garment workers of Rana Plaza who died in a preventable
collapse of a garment factory.
© Farzana Hossen. Curators Munem Wasif and Mahbubur Rahman
In a world obsessed with acquisition, emulating a consumer culture has become the criterion for
development, Drik has looked for other sources of inspiration. The new Ecuadorian constitution enshrines
rights for nature, rather than treating nature as property under the law.
© Pablo Corral Vega
Rights of nature and indigenous communities
*Government holiday, subject to sighting of the moonwww.drik.net
*Eid-ul-Fitr *Eid-ul-Fitr *Eid-ul-Fitr*Shab-e-Qadr
Drik has challenged Bangali supremacy. It’s “No More”
campaign has highlighted injustice and repression. It’s
recent show, Kalpana’s Warriors, on the abduction of an
indigenous activist, uses innovative techniques to
produce a unique exhibition that has received
international accolade. The gallery is also known for
showing work which other galleries would not dare
display.
© Habibul Haque
Photographer Vicky Roy explores the uncomfortable relationship that nature shares with man-made
structures that have emerged in pristine Himalayan towns su�ering from unorganised urbanisation. This
massive drive is robbing these Himalayan terrains of their individuality and homogenising the landscape,
leaving behind incomplete houses, worn out machinery and land slide ravaged mountains.
© Vicky Roy
Building peace, questioning development
*Government holiday, subject to sighting of the moonwww.drik.net
National Mourning Day
Hiroshima Day (1945)
National Day of Resistance:Violence against Women(Yasmin Day)
International Day of theWorld’s Indigenous People
World Photography Day
International Day for the Remembrance of SlaveTrade and its Abolition
Resistance to Phulbari CoalProject (Phulbari Day)
International Day of theDisappeared
*Janmashtami
Despite its critical stand, Drik has always tried to play a
constructive role in peacebuilding. In 1993, it brought the
prestigious photojournalism exhibition World Press Photo
to Bangladesh for the first time. Utilising Drik’s goodwill
and its non partisanship towards political parties, it invited
the deputy heads of the warring major political parties Dr.
Badruddoza Chowdhury of the BNP (later president of
Bangladesh) and Mr. Abdus Samad Azad of the Awami
League (later, foreign minister), to jointly open the
exhibition. A gesture the parties have never repeated.
© Anonymous
Despite its material limitations, Drik has had the friendship and love of some of the greatest contemporary
minds. Bangladesh’s much loved poet, Sufia Kamal, the founder of the country’s largest women’s
organisation Mohila Porishod, was one of many literary giants who contributed with their writing. Sufia
Khala (as we used to call her) wrote the introduction to Drik’s 1993 Calendar.
© Shahidul Alam
Sheltered by the greats
*Government holiday, subject to sighting of the moonwww.drik.net
*Eid-ul-Azha *Eid-ul-Azha*Eid-ul-Azha
Drik Day
Some of the greatest photographers have participated
with Drik through sharing their work, teaching at
Pathshala and as artists in our festival. David Burnett,
president and co-founder of Contact Press Images along
with Robert Pledge, is one the many 'greats' of
photography, whose work was featured in our seminal
exhibition on the war of liberation in 1971 exhibition and
the accompanying film and book. He also participated in
several festivals and lectured at Pathshala.
© Anonymous
Knowing we could not work in isolation, Drik’s photographers responded to humanitarian needs across the
globe. An exhibition of work produced after the 2006 earthquake in Kashmir in Pakistan, produced in
collaboration with the Irish NGO CONCERN, led to fund raising events in Europe, but also a book produced
in English and Urdu, which were distributed in a�ected areas, bringing back the stories of their own lives
to earthquake victims.
© Shahidul Alam
The wider world
*Government holiday, subject to sighting of the moonwww.drik.net
Fakir Lalon Shah’s deathanniversary
*Durga Puja *Ashura
Buoyed by the success in Bangladesh, Drik
reached out to other non-western
photographers. An exhibition at the gallery
of the Guardian newspaper in London
demonstrated their quality and in-depth
coverage. The supplement the newspaper
produced provided much needed visibility.
Drik’s “No More” campaign, set up to bring an end to government authoritarianism, began with an exhibition on extra-
judicial killings called “Crossfire”. A conceptual show depicting what those killed in “Crossfire” might have seen in their
dying moments. The show was closed down by riot police, but Drik challenged the government in court, and supported
by the public who protested in the streets, managed to get the show re-opened. The work made it to the front page of
New York Times, was shown in Tate Modern and was used in the covers of Amnesty International and Human Rights
Watch publications. We also noticed a (temporary) decline in killings.
© Shahidul Alam
Ensuring accountability
*Government holiday, subject to sighting of the moonwww.drik.net
International Day for theElimination of ViolenceAgainst Women
Nur Hossein Dibosh (1987)
Maulana Bhashani’s deathanniversary (1976)
Tazreen factory fire
After the closure of yet another show at Drik Gallery,
students, photographers and the general public gather at
Dhaka University to form a human chain in protest.
© Wahid Adnan
Social justice has been the core ethos of Drik’s existence. Its belief in people power, central to its being.
After years of military rule, an autocratic general, Hussain Muhammad Ershad, was being removed. The
people celebrated and Drik was there as a witness. 4th December 1990.
© Shahidul Alam
The voice of the people
*Government holiday, subject to sighting of the moonwww.drik.net
*Eid-e-Milad-un Nabi
Christmas Day
Pathshala Day
Victory Day
World AIDS Day Chittagong Hill Tracts PeaceAccord (1996)
International Day of Personswith Disabilities
Begum Rokeya’s BirthdayInternational Anti-CorruptionDay
International Human Rights Day
Intellectual Martyrs’ Day
The need to harness technology for the benefit of
everyone was something we appreciated early on. Drik
pioneered the introduction of email to Bangladesh,
spearheading the country’s digital revolution. Founding
directors of Drik, Presidential Award winning scientist
Dr. Kazi Abul Monsur (right) and Rokeya Padak winning
educationist Dr. Quazi Anwara Monsur try out Drik’s o�ine
Fidonet email network.
© Shahidul Alam
DrikHouse 58, Road 15A (New), DhanmondiDhaka 1209, BangladeshTel.: +880-2-9120125, 8141817, 58153087Email: o�[email protected]
Those we have loved and lost
1. Shamsur Rahman 3. Golam Kasem Daddy 4. Sufia Kamal2. Rashid Talukder
6. Aftab Ahmed 8. Azizur Rahim Peu 9. Manzoor Alam Beg7. Naib Uddin Ahmed
13. Mohammad Shafi11. Amanul Haque 14. Nawazesh Ahmed
5. Bijon Sarker
10. Md. Anisur Rahman
15. Wahidul Haque12. Jahanara Imam
Photo credit:K.M. AsadMd. Main UddinMunem WasifNasir Ali MamunShahidul Alam