The exhibition is presented by Arthshila Ahmedabad, in collaboration with Emami Art, which features the works of Shahidul Alam. Curated by Ina Puri, the exhibition provides the viewer with a look at Alam’s early experiments in pictorialism and his later experimentations in exploring the political space by developing a new vocabulary.

Shahidul Alam is a photographer, writer, curator, and activist. He obtained a Ph.D. in chemistry from London University before switching to photography. Returning to Dhaka in 1984, he documented the democratic struggle to remove Bangladesh’s autocratic ruler General Hussain Muhammad Ershad. Alam’s work has been shown in MOMA New York, Centre Georges Pompidou Paris, Royal Albert Hall and Tate Modern London, and Museum of Contemporary Arts Tehran. In 2009, Alam was commissioned by the Nelson Mandela Foundation to take what turned out to be the last official portrait of Nelson Mandela.

Ina Puri is a writer, biographer, art curator, and collector. She is the author of several books, including In Black & White (a biography of Manjit Bawa), Faces of Indian Art (iconic artists seen through the lens of Nemai Ghosh), and Journey with a Hundred Strings (on the music and life of Pt. Shiv Kumar Sharma). She produced Meeting Manjit, a film on Bawa, her friend, and collaborator, which won the National Award. Her journey has seen her take on editorial roles in some prominent publications. Ina’s four-decade-long engagement with the arts embraces everything from tribal art and folk theatre to contemporary performing arts, visual arts, and literature. Her recent projects include curating eminent Bangladeshi photographer Shahidul Alam’s exhibition across India, including a feature at the Kochi Biennale.