Queens Museum of Art New York City Building Flushing Meadows Corona Park Queens, NY 11368‐3398 718.592.9700 www.queensmuseum.org
Contact: David Strauss, 718.592.9700 x145 [email protected]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
QUEENS MUSEUM OF ART PRESENTS CROSSFIRE: PHOTOGRAPHS BY SHAHIDUL ALAM, BRINGING ATTENTION TO EXTRA‐JUDICIAL KILLINGS IN BANGLADESH
April 15 – May 6, 2012
(QUEENS, New York; April 2, 2012): In 2004, responding to a perceived law and order “crisis,” the Bangladesh government created a new, armed enforcement agency, called the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB). The agency was formed by taking officers from the Bangladesh Police, Army, Navy and Air Force. Over time, the agency’s budget and power grew and today it is one of the largest and most feared groups inside Bangladesh. From its onset, RAB became notorious for killing people it was trying to capture, often during gun battles, which the government always claims is due to “crossfire.” The Queens Museum of Art is proud to present CROSSFIRE: Photographs by Shahidul Alam, bringing to light these extra‐judicial killings. Through this exhibition, the Museum joins Alam, a Bangladeshi photographer and human rights activist, in bringing international attention the RAB’s use of excessive and, many times, fatal force. CROSSFIRE: Photographs by Shahidul Alam opens in the Partnership Gallery at the Queens Museum of Art on April 15, and remains on view through May 6, 2012.
Shahidul Alam first conceived of Crossfire in 2009 spurred by the rampant spread of RAB abuses. In 2010, he debuted CROSSFIRE in a gallery in Bangladesh to draw attention to these atrocities and within hours the government responded by shutting down the show. Eight days later, a court ruled in favor of Alam, and the show was reopened. Now the Queens Museum of Art brings the project to New York for the first time, presenting photographs that recreate, through metaphoric images, the RAB killings, videos about the controversy over the show’s Bangladesh premier, and a live Google map that pinpoints locations for these ongoing extra‐judicial killings.
“My intention was to get under the skin,” said Alam. “I walked those cold streets; heard the cries; sat quietly with the family besides a cold corpse. The show is a quiet metaphor for the screaming truth.”
The exhibition at Queen’s Museum of Art will include a public forum on April 15, where New York based activists and photographers will discuss the impact of photography on redress for human rights violations. Panelists will focus on the repeated condemnation by international human rights activists, including Human Rights Watch’s 2006 report Judge, Jury, and Executioner: Torture and Extrajudicial Killings by Bangladesh’s Elite Security Force, the role of Bangladeshi Diasporic populations in international solidarity work, and the role the United States plays in this issue, especially the alleged “training” of Bangladeshi security personnel by the US government.
In conjunction with this show, events are also planned in Bangladesh, where posters about abuses committed by RAB will be distributed nationwide, informing and educating local people of their rights, through new data and facts.
OPENING RECEPTION AND PANEL: Sunday, April 15, 2012,
6: 00 pm: Opening Reception 7:00 pm: Panel 1: Role of Photography in Human Rights Advocacy
Shahidul Alam in conversation with Brian Palmer, Brooklyn based independent journalist and filmmaker.
Moderated by Todd Lester, founder of freeDimensional, which hosts activists in art spaces and uses cultural resources to strengthen their work.
8:00 pm: Chai Break
8:15 pm: Panel 2: Diaspora Solidarity Strategies
Dina Siddiqi, Visiting Associate Professor, Women & Gender Studies Program, Hunter College, in conversation with Humayun Kabir, activist with the South Asia Solidarity Initiative, and a graduate student in Political Science at the CUNY Graduate Center.
Moderated by Rupal Oza, Director of the Women & Gender Studies Program at Hunter College.
FUNDING AND ORGANZIATION: This exhibition was organized by Drik Picture Library in association with the Queens Museum of Art.
The project was made possible in part by the Open Society Foundations’ Audience Engagement Grant, partly funded by the Open Society Documentary Photography Project and Open Society Justice Initiative’s National Criminal Justice Reform program, as well as a grant from The Yip Harburg Foundation.
Exhibitions in the Partnership Gallery at the Queens Museum of Art are supported by the Lambent Foundation Fund of Tides Foundation and Surdna Foundation. Additional funding from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and New York State Council on the Arts.
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The Queens Museum of Art was established in 1972 to provide a vital cultural center in Flushing Meadows Corona Park for the borough’s unique, international population. Today it is home to the Panorama of the City of New York, a 9,335 square foot scale model of the five boroughs, and features temporary exhibitions of modern and contemporary art that reflect the cultural diversity of Queens, as well as a collection of Tiffany glass from the Neustadt Collection of Tiffany Glass. The Museum provides valuable educational outreach through a number of programs geared toward schoolchildren, teens, families, seniors and individuals with physical and mental disabilities. The Partnership Gallery at the Queens Museum of Art provides opportunities for our cultural and other nonprofit organizational partners to develop and mount exhibitions based on their programs. In addition, the Partnership Gallery regularly showcases the work of students in QMA’s Department of Education
DIRECTIONS: The Queens Museum of Art is located in The New York City Building in Flushing Meadows Corona Park. Subway: 7 to Willets Point/Shea Stadium and walk approximately 10 minutes through the Park to the Museum, which is located next to the Unisphere. Bus: Q48 to Roosevelt Avenue & 111 Street. South to Park. Q23, Q58 to Corona Avenue & 51 Avenue. East to Park. Car: Via the Grand Central Parkway, exit at Shea Stadium and follow signs to the Museum. Free parking. ADMISSION: Suggested donation: $5 for adults, $2.50 for students (with valid identification) and seniors. Free for children 5 and under. The first Sunday of every month is free for families attending Metlife Foundation presents First Sundays for Families programming. HOURS: The Museum is open Wednesday through Sunday, 12:00 ‐ 6:00 pm. The Museum is closed Monday, Tuesday and major holidays. Phone: 718.592.9700. Fax: 718.592.5778. Website: www.queensmuseum.org Twitter:@queensmuseum
Drik, Bangladesh is a distinctive multimedia organization that has made challenging social inequality its central driving force. Established in 1989, Drik has successfully partnered with national and international organizations using the power of the visual medium to educate, inform and draw powerful emotional responses to influence public opinion. The Drik Picture Library, the Photography, Publications, Audio‐Visual and Gallery departments work in synergy to carry out the work of the company. It’s ability and influence is strengthened by its initiatives, the Pathshala South Asian Media Academy, DrikICT, Chobi Mela International Festival of Photography and the Majority World Photo Agency. freeDimensional (fD) advances social justice by hosting activists in art spaces and using cultural resources to strengthen their work. Based on the belief that creative expression fuels social justice movements, fD works with the global arts community to identify and redistribute available, underutilized resources, and support meaningful relationships between art spaces and activists and is a co‐initiator in bringing Crossfire to the QMA.
The South Asia Solidarity Initiative builds on decades of South Asian progressive politics of solidarity within the US for peace and reconciliation, inter‐ethnic and inter‐religious co‐existence as well as social and economic justice in South Asia.