PUBLISHER
Steidl

BOOK FORMAT
Hardcover, 7.25 x 9.25 in. / 184 pgs / 74 color / 37 bw.

PUBLISHING STATUS
Pub Date 1/21/2020
Active

DISTRIBUTION
D.A.P. Exclusive
Catalog: SPRING 2020 p. 108

PRODUCT DETAILS
ISBN 9783958296930 TRADE
List Price: $30.00 CDN $42.00

AVAILABILITY
In stock

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STEIDL

Shahidul Alam: The Tide Will Turn

Edited by Vijay Prashad. Text by Shahidul Alam, Arundhati Roy.

A layered critique of autocracy in Bangladesh from leading photojournalist Shahidul Alam, with letters from Arundhati Roy

A New York Times critics' pick | Best Art Books 2020

“On the night of 5 August, I did not know if I was going to live or die,” writes Shahidul Alam (born 1955), one of Bangladesh’s most respected photojournalists, essayists and social activists, remembering his arrest, torture and eventual 101-day incarceration in Keraniganj Jail in 2018. Just a few hours before, he had given a television interview criticizing the government’s brutal handling of the student protests of that year which had called for an end to social injustice—in his words, “the years of misrule, the corruption, the wanton killing, the wealth amassed by the ruling coterie.”

Combining Alam’s photos and texts with those of collaborators, including artwork by Sofia Karim and fellow inmates, The Tide Will Turn documents his experiences, the global support for his release and the ongoing fight for democracy in Bangladesh. The book comprises a record of Alam’s time in jail; a chapter each on art and politics; and an exchange of letters between Alam and writer Arundhati Roy.

PRAISE AND REVIEWS

Hyperallergic

Jonah Goldman Kay

The Tide Will Turn centers on the 100 days the esteemed photographer spent in prison for protesting Bangladesh’s religious, nationalist government, but also wisely focuses on the conditions that made his arrest inevitable.

New York Times

Siddhartha Mitter

The eminent Bangladeshi photographer Shahidul Alam was jailed for more than three months in 2018 for denouncing the repression of protesters. Released after a mobilization of local and foreign support, he reflects here on his prison experience and a life of fighting for justice (for laborers, survivors of gender violence, Indigenous groups, and others) through image and deed. Some of his finest pictures illustrate the text, as do his selections of noteworthy images by other Bangladeshi photographers. Solidarity and integrity reign, along with tenacious optimism, expressed in a heartfelt exchange of letters with the writer-activist Arundhati Roy.

Musee

Editors

Shahidul Alam is a Photojournalist from Bangladesh. In his journey to uncover and expose the corruption of his government he gave an interview in August 2018 where he testifies to the mishandling of the student protests that had turned violent. Alam was arrested and imprisoner for over 100 days for speaking out against the governments reign of social injustice. While in prison, Alam wrote many letters to Arundhati Roy and inmate Sofia Karim. Stories and Photographs from all three Freedom Fighters serve to turn the tide in Bangladesh and highlight the important fight for Democracy and the future of Bangladesh.