Bangladeshi photographer Zobayer receives prestigious Alexia Grant

Bangladeshi photographer Md. Zobayer Hossain Joati received the prestigious Alexia Grant for his project “We live to Fight”.

The names of the grant recipients were announced on 19 April and Zobayer, who is a student of Counter Foto, was one of the student grant recipients.

This year participants from 54 countries submitted for professional and student grants. The winners were selected by jurors Gail Fletcher of The Guardian, Nicole Werbeck of NPR, and David Gonzalez of The New York Times. Whitney C Johnson, VP for visuals and immersive experiences at National Geographic moderated the judging process.

Joati is a student in the ‘Professional Diploma in Photography’ programme at Counter Foto – a centre for visual arts in Dhaka’s East Shewrapara. As the student grant winner, he will receive a prize money as well as a camera setup sponsored by Sony.

He will receive a fellowship for tuition and fees to enroll in three courses during a semester at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University in New York and a paid position as a research assistant to the Alexia Chair.

The journalism and communication faculty of Syracuse University ranks 1st in the US and the visual and performing art faculty of this university was the first ever visual art faculty in the US.

Zobayer expressed his deep gratitude to all his teachers at Counter Foto, especially to Ahmed Rasel who voluntarily mentored and advised him on the project and to the principal of Counter Foto, Saiful Huq Omi for being an inspiration.