TitleAngels in hell

Entry description“Could you exchange a day with me with your own child working in my place? Could you deposit your child to labor for 12 hours in such a place for a day to get $1? If you can’t, can you please do something for us?”

Frequently confronted with these questions from young children who are forced into unimaginable working conditions in Bangladesh from very early ages.

Down in these deadly factories the word, “childhood” disappears as early as the age of five. Rapid maturity is all that will keep them alive. Their silent cries echo from wall to wall in their Hell which is considered a blessed place for them because they can earn bread. Their compact factory workstations amongst the fiery furnaces or the deafening sewing machines or even on the dusty brick-making fields are places where they are growing up independently.

According to UNICEF, more than 7.4 million children are engaged in economic activity in Bangladesh. Many of them work in very poor conditions; some even risk their lives. Factory owners pay them about 400 to 700 taka (6 to 10 US dollars) a month, while an adult worker earns up to 5,000 taka per month.

About the photographerFor me Photography is my language, to access, to communicate, to identify and mostly to make it hear. Through photography I only jot down my heart's language. The best part about being a photographer is that I'm able to articulate the experiences of the voiceless and to bring their identities to the forefront which gives meaning and purpose to my own life.

I have received more than 68 international awards and my work has been featured in over 70 major, international publications including: National Geographic, Vogue,Time, Sunday Times, Newsweek, Geo, Stern, Der Spiegel, The Fader, Brand Ein, The Guardian, Marie Claire, Colors, The Economist, The New Internationalist, Kontinente, Amnesty Journal, Courier International, PDN, Die Zeit, Days Japan, Hello, and Sunday Telegraph of London.

In 2002 I became the first Bangladeshi to be selected for the World Press Photo Joop Swart Masterclass in the Netherlands. In 2004 I received the Young Reporters Award from the Scope Photo Festival in Paris — once again, the first Bangladeshi to receive this honour. In 2005 I was awarded "Best of Show" at the Center for Fine Art Photography's international competition in Colorado, USA. And in 2006 I was awarded World Press Photo award and released my premier book "First Light". In 2007 I became the first Bangladeshi to be selected for the 30 Emerging Photographers (PDN 30), sponsored by Photo District News Magazine, USA. I won the 7th Vevey International Photography Grant from Switzerland in 2009 and in the same year, I took home the international 'Travel photographer of the Year" title at the International Travel Photographer of the Year Competition (TPOY 2009) in the UK, the most prestigious award in travel photography.