DHAKA: Khaled Hasan is an extraordinary documentary photographer and filmmaker born in Dhaka in 1981. He began working as a photographer in 2001 as a freelancer for several dailies in Bangladesh and for international magazines.

His passion for photography since younger age has made him to decide to take photography as a profession.

Capturing nature, social disparities and fight for human rights are basically his area of interest as photographic subject. He believes in immersion photography, and spends months listening, observing and talking with his subjects over the course of a project.

Hasan was honored as the best environmental photo journalist in 2009 for his one of unique documentary projects “Living Stone” by CIWEM. He has also won numerous international awards including the 2008 All Roads Photography Contest of National Geographic Society; the 2009 Grand Prix “Europe and Asia – Dialogue of Cultures” International Photography Contest organized by Museum of Photography, Russia; 2009 Mark Grosset Documentary Prize, France; and UNESCO’s Humanity Photo Documentary Award, China. Same year he received “Story Documentary Jury” award from The Netherlands.

He also received “CDP Emerging Documentist” award from Australia in 2009. His works and images were exhibited in many countries like Britain, Mexico, France, Syria, Russia, China, Canada, Uzbekistan and USA.

His works have been published in major international magazines and newspapers in the world including The New York Times, Sunday Times Magazine, American Photo, National Geographic Society, Better Photography, Saudi Aramco World Magazine, The Guardian, The Telegraph, Independent and The New Internationalist.

Being an accounting graduate Hasan never felt to engage in 9 to 5 job rather was in deep feeling to sensitize mass people on rights of the underprivileged groups in Bangladesh. He was keen to establish rights of people by ascending mindset of civil society members through his works.

At a young age he realized that photography is not just a camera click but a strong medium to portrait discriminations and one of key tools to build awareness among mass people to make them sensible towards humanity as part of their socially responsible behavior.

Photography has become part of his identity — a force that makes him think, feel and understand other human beings and their condition. He chose to take this path to experience culture and life to its fullest.

How his journey started?

Khaled Hasan’s mother has a great influence on him. It was her dream, which drives Hasan to be involved with the creative world. He tried to learn guitar and drums but failed to complete learning as he couldn’t found passion within it.

It was visual media what attracts Hasan the most. Due to family and social pressure he had to complete his post-graduation in accounting but always keep his dream inside his heart.

His journalist sister was another motivational and influential person in his life. He visited many places of Bangladesh with his sister and experienced how she worked to collect stories, information from sources and documented social issues in the reporting frame. Since then Hasan’s “sense of responsibility towards society” grown up and he started preparing himself to be a sensible person to address critical concerns related to inequality, vulnerable community, social system and disregard humanity especially women rights.

At the age of 20, Hasan started feeling the social problems and decided to raise the awareness for the people with less voice in society. He was trying to find out the way and then he started photography to use the camera as a tool.

Therefore, he joined Pathshala, the only high-quality photography institute in South Asia and completed a 3-year-degree “Graduation in Photo Journalism”. After that Hasan completed a yearlong professional degree on “Diploma in Photojournalism” from Ateneo de Manila University.

Initially Hasan has started working as a freelancer for several daily newspapers in Bangladesh and then he worked for many international news agencies and magazines among them The New York Times, Al Jazeera, Global Post and The Washington Post are the most significant.

In his professional life Hasan had endeavored and skilled at daily life photography, street photography, portraiture, documentary and fashion photography as key medium of photography but finally choose documentary photography as the core form of competency of his work.

Khaled Hasan had acquired people attention in 2013 while revealed his solo-exhibition on Autobiographical titled “Existence…The End” at Bangladesh Shilpokala Academy as it was an innovative presentation of printing photograph in clothing material and modifying with painting. Usually, people see photos are printed in photo-paper but Hasan tried to do a new form, which is quite extraordinary, and not a normal practice in Bangladesh at that time. Hasan started this form, which followed by many other photographers afterwards.

In 2008, Hasan achieve National Geographic All Roads Photography Award for his long-term documentary work “Living Stone”. This is the most prestigious award for extraordinary documentary photographer around the world.

His photo essay “Living Stone: A Community Losing Its Living Environment” focuses on the areas of Jaflong, on the river Piyain, near the border of India and Bangladesh, whose inhabitants are struggling with the health hazards, environmental, political and professional vulnerability of the region’s stone-crushing industry.

Hasan’s documentary project “Living Stone” won numerous international awards including the 2009 Grand Prix “Europe and Asia – Dialogue of Cultures”, International Photography Contest organized by Museum of Photography, Russia; 2009 Mark Grosset Documentary Prize, France; and UNESCO’s Humanity Photo Documentary Award, China.

In response to the question-Why you are different from others? Hasan said, I am completely an ordinary person like others. “I live very simple life. It’s may be my work which distinguish me from others’ works as because I have tried to avoid the trend what others commonly do rather follow my heart’s aspiration”.

“I do what I like to do to imply with enthusiasm. And that’s passion may bring diversity in my work which isolated me from others.”

If Hasan’s major works/projects are displayed, the viewers will find him an extraordinary important first-hand storyteller whose work is necessary to the survival of cultural knowledge throughout the modern world.

His photography of stunning images and heartfelt narration exemplifies what the All Roads Film Project and National Geographic aim to support — a crucial perspective from cultures that are all too often underrepresented.

As a representative of Bangladesh, Hasan was a key panel participant offering expertise and experience as a photographer. He had the opportunity to interact with other photographers from around the world and had gain experience from National Geographic’s network of photography contacts and resources, as well as the opportunity to meet invaluable people in the photography industry.

Hasan illustrates the behind story of working with the stone crash labors in Jaflong like this, the industry is growing haphazardly, triggering an increase in the use of machines, loss of income for the workers, and a faster loss of natural resources.

Laborers are denied legal protection and even basic human rights. This will only continue the exploitation of the men, women, and children who labor daily to produce it. With each stone lifted into the crushers, viewers witness the slow, sad and decay of a community.

His emphasis on the great role done by the labors which contributes to the life of city dwellers is remarkable as he said, “due to their sacrifices we, the city people, are living within concrete-made houses safely”.

For Hasan, being a photojournalist is not only being a very good photographer but also a socially responsible person. He constantly finds fulfillment whenever his works benefit his community and the greater good.

His involvement with the National Geographic Society, Inter-Press Service and other non-profit organizations in documenting cultural concerns show his passion to these.

“While working with old-home for the project ‘Tears of Memories: Death of Dreams’ I have seen the real sorrow of an elderly aged person. I can’t imagine even to send my parents to old-home as my social orientation does not support it.”

“But nowadays, mostly in urban areas, people are becoming more mechanized, busy, and loaded with jobs. But we never think about our parents who have always been with us. We don’t want to spend our valuable time for their happiness.”

“Being a documentary photographer I would like to represent the elderly view on our social structure and their expectations from us. As I believe photography has the visual power to educate by allowing us to enter the lives and experiences of these socially neglected people.”

“Through my photography I have tried to show their unseen emotion and pain.”

Khaled Hasan explains the rationality and motivation of the exhibition he has organized in University of Dhaka to educate young generation (especially university students as targeted audience) about the pain and sorrow carries by the elderly people in general.

Between 1999 and 2010, there were about 2,314 incidents of acid attacks and 2,957 survivors. Violence against women is common in Bangladesh; especially in rural areas and the trauma related to acid violence make a woman more vulnerable in society.

As part of his social activism Hasan worked on the life of acid survivors and “Birangona’s” (the women who were raped by the soldiers of the Pakistani army during the liberation war of Bangladesh).

In the last 10 years, there were 3,000 victims of acid attacks. Land disputes, dowry, personal jealousy, family and business feuds, rejection of marriage proposals or sexual advances can all spur an acid attack.

According to Hasan, his project “Live Me Alone” is a quest to understand what lies behind the acid-burnt faces and to tell their stories of survival and healing.

He says, “I can’t imagine even how a human can harm another human thronging acid and it’s a brutal violence against humanity. Showcasing mental trauma of a woman in relation to acid violation and create mass awareness against it was the key message to deliver to society by this project”.

“I was not born at the time of liberation war of Bangladesh but learnt many sensitive incidents in relation to the war and found cases of rape victims are more disgusting.”

“I cried inside and felt to reveal the untold stories of Birangona’s through a documentary film titled ‘SIGN OF A SHAME’. Some of them may die after 10 years from now on but people should respect them for many years to come for their great sacrifices and contribution during the war. This documentary film may exist as educative war evidence to future generation of Bangladesh.”

The photographs from “Sign of Shame” are dedicated to the approximately 200,000 “Birangona”. Khaled Hasan wishes to break the silence in Bangladeshi society about the cruelty that has been done to the women, “whose suffering,” according to Hasan, “of both during and after the war, remains unrecorded and unrecognized.”

Many of them were disowned by their families who saw a loss of dignity in their rape, others migrated to India and gave birth to their children there.

There were many who committed suicide or were murdered by the Pakistani army.

In the video, he made within this framework, three “Birangona” are telling about their experiences, all in their 60's by now. It was also important to Hasan to include a male freedom fighter in his film because there had been made many films in which that group was talking about their heroism and the war, but never about rape of the hundreds of thousands of Bangladeshi women. Also, a woman who was born out of the rape of her mother during the liberation war is one of the film's protagonists.

In Bangladesh society photography is not yet accepted as an honorable profession along with other traditional professions and photojournalists are lagging behind in some cases due to mass awareness about this profession and recognition.

But Khaled Hasan is lucky enough to have a supportive family especially his mother and sister gave him more confidence and motivation to fulfill his desire and passion for photography.

Apart from it, hard-work, morale and dedication for photography was his driving force to become a well-known documentary photographer in Bangladesh. According to Hasan, it’s our self-responsibility to build an acceptable image those are in this profession.

Hasan admires Shahidul Alam, the Principal of Pathshala and a globally renowned photo-artiste of Bangladesh not only for his remarkable works, motivation and support to him but also he is a great influencer to many new comers in this industry.

He also expressed his gratitude to other fellow photojournalists and friends, who inspired him all the time.

Khaled Hasan likes photographic works of late photographer Ansel Adams and Henri Cartier-Bresson. Besides, Richard Avedon, Steve Mccurry and Sebastiao Salgado inspire him the most among contemporary photographers in globe.

Hasan shot his pictures in black and white because, to him this contrast and lack of other colors represents the women's grief, joy or other positive feelings are absent here. The artiste Hasan said he finds it “easier to get information from a person about their life through photography rather than speaking with them”.

He spent several months with each woman portrayed in his exhibition before taking the pictures because he knew it would take time to build trust with them.

As an indigenous photographer, he tells narratives of the land that shaped him. Documenting stories about its people and their interaction with nature, healing and surviving from times of distress, fighting for rights, toiling for food, standing against injustice are the primary issues he features in his works.

For Hasan, a story never ends; but continues to develop, fades or becomes part of history but may still be documented through photography. This is why he believes that it is highly important to crystallize changes in life, especially the ones that transcend times.

Among leading five speakers of International Perspective Conference (IPC) Khaled Hasan is one of invitees and lead speaker participated this event in Principia College located in St. Louis, USA and currently living in USA.

He is the youngest inspirational speaker who has attended the event not only being an internationally well-known photographer but also for being recognized as “Socially Responsible Global Citizen” through his contribution.

Remarkable leading speakers from globe like Barack Obama, George W Bush, Jimmy Carter, Dr. Muhammad Yunus, and late Margaret Thatcher attended many international conferences organized by Principia Collage.

At present Hasan is working on his new project titled “Living Odd” to document past-present situation of Bangladeshi non-residents and immigrants who are living in the USA since long and capturing truth behind the sufferings and survival of migrants, mental trauma and cultural gaps between different races in America.

BDST: 2001 HRS, FEB 14, 2016
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