Drik Picture Library

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, 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.

• 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 organsiations [sic] 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.

• Drik website
• Drik News