Abstract nominee

Bangladesh is a changing nation. It is increasingly becoming a polarised country - politically, religiously, socially, economically. There have been a number of murders in recent years of bloggers and people standing up for human rights, critical of both the government and Islam.

Among these victims were two close friends of mine, murdered in the apartment where we all used to hang out. Dhaka was already a difficult place for me to live in. In an effort to relax, I had turned to wandering the busy streets of Old Dhaka late at night. I photographed without raising the camera to my eye. It was therapeutic, unburdening me of any visual decisions. I was letting go of any control of the composition. It almost seemed like chance was creating fictional portraits of the people I was passing by.

With the death of my friends came a lurking fear that never quite goes away. I continued my late night wanderings, and soon realised the images had become an expression of the relationship I have with this city, which I can't help but keep returning to.

Work in progress. All photographs shot in Old Dhaka, Bangladesh 2015-2017

I'm an artist and photographer based in London, UK.

Since 2009 I've worked for a variety of publications and NGOs*, as well as on long-term projects with, among others, leprosy, Syrian refugees, Armenian prisoners, stone-miners in Bangladesh, and LGBT rights (also in Bangladesh).

In 2015/2016 I furthered my photography studies at the renowned Pathshala South Asian Media Insitute in Dhaka, Bangladesh under such tutors as Munem Wasif, Sarker Protick and Tanzim Wahab.

I work with a variety of photographic media and handwriting to best explore and explain my experiences and interactions with people. I look for appropriate styles and techniques with each project to best explore the subject psychologically.

In 2016 I was nominated for the Ian Parry Scholarship and displayed in the exhibition. In 2016 I was also given a grant by Open Society Foundations to make a photographic project on prisoners in Armenia.

*Including: New York Times, The Guardian, American Leprosy Missions, Action on Armed Violence, World Wildlife Fund, The Leprosy Mission International, HEAL Africa, Mercy Ships, Student British Medical Journal, The Weather Magazine, Radio Netherlands Worldwide, Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Nepal Leprosy Trust.