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The Arts Intel Report

A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler
A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler

Shahidul Alam: Truth to Power

Nov 8, 2019 – May 4, 2020
150 W 17th St, New York, NY 10011, United States

“It was social justice I was after,” says Shahidul Alam, who was part of Time magazine’s “Person of the Year” portfolio in 2018, “and I realized photography was this powerful tool.” Alam advocates for the “majority world,” a term he coined in the 1990s to reframe the misleading terms “third world” and “global south.” Over the years, traveling far and wide, Alam’s lens has captured the hardships, struggles, and simpler moments of life in his native Bangladesh, shedding light on a culture that is too often misrepresented and misunderstood. —E.C.

Shahidul Alam, “Sailboat Fishing for Ilish,” Daulatdia, Bangladesh, 2001. Photograph courtesy of Shahidul Alam/ Drik/ Majority World.