An insight into the evolution of one of the most significant movements in contemporary photography, through the eyes and voice of the man who shaped it. An extraordinary artist, Shahidul Alam is a photographer, writer, activist, and social entrepreneur who used his art to chronicle the social and artistic struggles in a country known largely for poverty and disasters.

Lucid and personal, this much-awaited book includes over 100 photographs tracing Alam’s artistic career, activism, and the founding of photography organizations. From early images shot in England to photographs of the last two decades in his native Bangladesh, this is a journey from photojournalism into social justice. Alam’s superb imagery is matched by his perceptive accounts, at once deeply intimate and bitingly satirical.

Shahidul Alam, profoundly influenced by inequality in his native Bangladesh and The Liberation War, pursued a life in photography to challenge oppression and imperialism in all its forms. Attacked, arrested, and threatened with death, Alam built what many consider to be the finest photography school in the world, an award-winning agency, and the world’s most diverse photography festival.

Widely celebrated, Alam claims as his achievements not the awards and exhibitions but the people he has trained and the lives he has transformed. Rosa Maria Falvo is a writer and curator, and Skira’s international commissions editor, specializing in Asian contemporary art.