A Struggle for Democracy - Shahidul Alam - New exhibition in Basement Project Space

A Struggle for Democracy - Shahidul Alam

Shahidul Alam is an internationally recognised and award winning photographer, human rights activist and digital pioneer. Shahidul some of the most influential photography organisations in Asia, including Drik Multimedia Agency and Chobi Mela International Photography Festival.

In August 2018 Shahidul Alam was charged and imprisoned under Section 57 of Bangladesh’s ICT Act, for exercising his right to freedom of expression.

If found guilty Shahidul could serve up to 14 years in jail.

Amnesty International considers Shahidul Alam a prisoner of conscience and calls for his immediate and unconditional release.

Add your voice to the campaign demanding Shahidul’s immediate release:
Scan the QR code to email your support for Shahidul to Bangladeshi authorities via Amnesty International, or visit


www.amnesty.org.uk/actions/free-shahidul-alam

Add your photographic voice at

#FreeShahidulAlam 

29th October - 9th November 2018
Basement Project Space
Ruskin Building Cambridge School of Art Anglia Ruskin University Cambridge 


A selection of images from the exhibition:

Part of a UK wide project initiated by Northern Centre of Photography, University of Sunderland, Autograph London, and Drik Picture Agency, Bangladesh.

Generation Z - Exhibition by course leader Kerstin Hacker

 October to December 2018 – Alison Richard Building

The photographic series Generation Z documents the changing urban experience in Lusaka, the capital of Zambia. 

Generation Z combines the acknowledgement of Hacker’s own European visual heritage with the experience of extended stays in Lusaka. She asks viewers to contemplate change in Zambia and dismantle neocolonial visual discourses.

In August 2017, the Generation Z series was exhibited at the Henry Tayali Gallery in Zambia, by invitation of the Visual Arts Council of Zambia.  The Generation Z series was originally aimed at a British audience, however, it also sparked debate amongst Zambian photographers on how to develop methods of showing a wider, more diverse view, which highlights the country’s unique character.  The discussions highlighted that Zambia’s visual identity outside the country, and to some extent within the country, is often based on a stereotypical African narrative, which was felt not to reflect life experienced within Zambia. It is therefore not a question of if Generation Z represents of modern Africa ‘correctly’, but if they contribute to the debate on how Zambia could be represented.

These images debate the dangers of neo-liberal consumerism on African culture and what this means to the people of Zambia, but also illustrated the visual ‘proof’ of the so often demanded economic progress of an African nation. It highlights the chasm between Zambians’ daily experience of their urban lives in Lusaka, and the photographs they see of themselves in the international media.

Generation Z was photographed in Lusaka in 2016 – 17.