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Spotlight: Focus on Bangladesh
May 4, 2010
Since SDN's launch in 2008, some of the strongest and most original work has come from Bangladesh. Much of this can be credited to Shahidal Alam, founder of the Drik Photo Agency and MajorityWorld.com, a website championing the cause of indigenous photographers from the developing world and the global South. Most of the Bangladeshi photographers featured in this issue are listed on the MajorityWorld.org website. Khaled Hasan was also a winner of the recent SocialDocumentary.net call for entries on the global recession for his exhibit on stone workers. In addition to the pictures, the photographers from Bangladesh take their role seriously as documentarians and write thorough commentary on the subject matter. Currently, there are 13 exhibits on SDN from Bangladesh. The five below have been submitted in the past two weeks.
Celestial Devotion: The Tannjimul Yatim Khana Orphanage
in Bangladesh
Photographs by Jashim
Salam
Breakfast at the Tannjimul Yatim Khana orphanage, 2009. Photo by Jashim Salam
Tannjimul Muslemin Yatim and Hafiz Khana, an
orphanage and Islamic school, is situated near the famous Hazrat Shah Amanat
Shrine in Chittagong. The orphanage gives shelter, food, and education to more
than two hundred students, who are mentored to be Hafiz (one who memorizes the holy Koran). It takes fifteen months to four
years to become a Hafiz. According to
UN statistics, six million students are enrolled in educational institutions like this in Bangladesh.
Click here to view the exhibit.
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Threading Six Yards of Legacy: Bangladesh's Tati
Weavers
Photographs by Saad
Shahriar
A man weaves patterned silk textiles, 2010. Photo by Saad Shahriar
In Bangladesh, particularly in the district of Tangail,
saris are an integral part of the tati community, a Hindu caste that
specializes in creating the much-sought jamdani saris. But in an ever
globalized and mechanized world, the tatis are facing problems from all
directions. As machines take over, their hands are forced to lay idle.
Furthermore, the new generation shows little interest in maintaining the caste
occupation as they migrate to the cities. Their trade, their art, their way of
living is becoming part of Bangladesh's history books.
Click here to view the exhibit.
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Congregation for World Peace: The Annual Biswa Ijtema
Event in Bangladesh
Photographs by A.M. Ahad Ahad
Praying at the Biswa Ijtema, on the bank of river
Turag at Tongi, 2010. Photo by A.M. Ahad Ahad
From January 22 to 24, 2010, more than two
million people gathered on the bank of River Turag in Tongi, Bangladesh, including
a hundred thousand women and nine thousand devotees from abroad, for the annual Biswa
Ijtema congregation. The three-day event focuses on prayer and meditation, and
Islamic scholars from different countries delivered sermons on aspects of
Islam. Second in size only to Hajj (the annual pilgrimage to Mecca), Biswa
Ijtema has been taking place annually since the 1960s.
Click here to view the exhibit.
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Born in a Slum: Childbirth in Bangladesh
Photographs by Saikat Mojumder
A Traditional
Childbirth, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, 2009. Photo by Saikat Mojumder
Every year, 440 out of every 100,000 pregnant women in
Bangladesh die. In
most of the slums, no doctor or medical service is available. Often midwives
help the pregnant mothers, but they are untrained.
Click here to view the exhibit.
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Tears of Memories, Death of dreams: Caring for
Bangladesh's Elderly
Photographs by
Khaled Hasan
89-year-old Munnujan Bewa, 2008. Photo by Khaled Hasan
A traditional society, the people of Bangladesh
have in the past placed much value and importance on caring for the elderly.
Tradition dictates that children live in the same home as their parents to care
for them as they grew old. However, more recently, people have begun placing
their parents into homes for the elderly, a fairly new practice in Bangladesh
that some blame on globalization and exposure to Western ideas.
Click here to view the exhibit.
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SDN Founder, Glenn Ruga, Interviewed in Boston Globe
In the Saturday, May 1 issue of the "G" section of the Boston Globe, Pulitzer Prize-winning arts reporter Mark Feeney interviews Glenn Ruga.
Read full article in Boston Globe.
POYi Emerging Vision Incentive
Pictures of the Year International announces $10,000 Emerging Incentive Program
POYi, a program of the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute at
the Missouri School of Journalism, is offering $10,000 to an aspiring
photojournalist to propose and complete a long-term documentary project
of social significance.
The newly announced "POYi Emerging Vision
Incentive" is open to all semi-professional, student, and early-career
photographers. The incentive will fund
and showcase documentary work on social issues or political trends by aspiring
documentary photographers.
Click here for more information.
Call for Entries for the New York Photo Awards
Deadline: Midnight, Thursday, May 6
 Open call to talented photographers from all over the world: the annual New York Photo Awards are open for submissions!
Now is your chance to have your work exposed to some of the most sought-after experts of the photography world during the busiest photography month in New York City.
Winners receive over $1000 in prizes including a Canon S90 camera, courtesy of B&H, as well as a Spyder 3 Studio, courtesy of Datacolor.
For information, visit: www.newyorkphotoawards.com
The FotoVisura Latin American Pavilion
The FotoVisura Latin American Pavilion will participate in the third annual New York Photo Festival, May 12-16, Brooklyn, New York.
The FotoVisura Latin American Pavilion is curated by Adriana Teresa, co-founder of FotoVisura and Visura Media and will include into its curriculum
Contemporary Latin American Photography Panel Discussions:
Part I: A curator's perspective,Fri., May 13, 5:30-6:20
Part II:An artist's perspective, Sat., May 15, 7:30-8:20
For complete information, visit http://www.fotovisurapavilion.com
The Jewish Museum: South African Photographs by David Goldblatt
May 2, 2010 - September 19, 2010, The Jewish Museum, 1109 5th Ave at 92nd St, New York NY
 David Goldblatt is one of South Africa's most highly
regarded photographers. As both citizen and photographer, he was
witness to apartheid's infiltration into every aspect of South African
life. The Jewish Museum will present an exhibition of 150 black and
white photographs by Goldblatt that focus on South Africa's human
landscape in the apartheid and post-apartheid eras.
Click here for more information about the exhibit.
Susan Meiselas Exhibit at the Hood Museum of Art
April 10 - June 20, 2010, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
 Susan Meiselas, best known for her work covering the political
upheavals in Central America in the 1970s and 1980s, is one of the most
socially engaged photographers of our time. This exhibition is structured around three key projects that exemplify the evolution of Meiselas's process
and approach, and it encourages
cross-disciplinary dialogue around issues of art, anthropology, and
human rights.
Click here for more information.
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About SocialDocumentary.net
SocialDocumentary.net
is a new website for photographers, NGOs, journalists, editors, and
students to create and explore documentary websites investigating
critical issues facing the world today. Recent exhibits have explored
oil workers in the Niger River Delta, male sex workers in India,
Central American immigrant women during their journey north, and Iraqi
and Afghan refugees in Greece. Click here to view all of the exhibits.
Spotlight Credits
Editor: Glenn Ruga
Writer/Copy Editor: Jessica Hosman
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