Entertainment Report :
Bangladeshi photographer Shahidul Alam and South African photographer Gideon Mendel have withdrawn their works and participation in the showing of the Prix Pictet touring exhibition Hope, due to open at the Eretz Israel Museum, Tel Aviv, Israel on June 30. Their withdrawal is in solidarity with the Palestinian people and informed by the Bangladesh’s movement resisting the Israeli government’s settler occupation and apartheid policies.
Shahidul Alam is also a globally recognised journalist and the only Bangladeshi to have been featured as Time Magazine Person of the Year (2018). Citing his reasons for withdrawal, he said, “I am Bangladeshi. In 1971, we lived under occupation in East Pakistan. Members of my family died resisting the occupation, as did friends. The Pakistan army’s denial of the genocide of our people relied on cultural events to demonstrate ‘normality.’ The boycott of Pakistan and the global support for our armed struggle gave us hope and led to our independence.”
