Andrew Biraj

People Power At Phullbari, Bangladesh

Andrew Biraj (b.1982, Bangladesh) completed a his studies in photography from Pathshala in 1999, working with a local weekly magazine, before traveling through Bangladesh to pursue his own work as a photojournalist. He has completed stories in the UK, Cambodia, Myanmar and Bangladesh, including his on going project ‘State Excluded’, a photo essay about the stranded Bihari community in Bangladesh. In 2004 he obtained a full scholarship from the University of Bolton, UK to finish his B.A in Photography. He has been selected for the World Press Photo  Masterclass in 2008. He won 1st Prize in the “Environmental Picture Story” category of “Best of Photojournalism” by NPPA; 2008. His  work have been published in The New York Times, The Guardian, The Observer Magazine, Saudi Aramaco World,  and Forum Magazine of The Daily Star.

About the Photograph:

“This photograph is from a project about the protests against a proposed open-pit coal mine in Phullbari,  in the North-West district of Bangladesh. Hundreds of housewives from mostly conservative Muslim families came out to the streets with their infant children and whatever household utensils they could find to protest  against granting a coal mining project to the UK based Asia Energy Corporation.”

Editors note: I’m currently based in Bangladesh and will be featuring more photographers from the region. There are a tremendous amount of talented photographers here in Dhaka. Check out my other blog called “Photographs and Notes from Bangladesh” .