GMB Akash is a Bangladeshi photographer who focuses on people living on the margins of society all around the world. In images and words, he captures their daily lives and tales, carrying them to places and people he would never have met otherwise. His travels allow him to gain a better understanding of people and how he may help them. He’s also focused on the environment’s impact on underprivileged people who are rarely seen by others.
Vogue, Time, Sunday Times, Newsweek, Geo, Stern, Der Spiegel, The Fader, 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 the Sunday Telegraph of London have all featured his work.
GMB Akash’s images have been shown in solo exhibits in Bangladesh, Laos, Germany, Belgium, Portugal, Italy, Switzerland, the United States, Charleston, South Carolina, Qatar, the Maldives, and the Czech Republic.
Since 2002, when he was the first Bangladeshi to be selected for the World Press Photo Joop Swart Masterclass in the Netherlands, he has achieved more than 100 international photography honors and acclaim. At the Scope Photo Festival in Paris in 2004, he was the first Bangladeshi to receive the Young Reporters Award. He won the 2006 World Press Photo award and issued his first book, ‘FIRST LIGHT,’ that same year, after winning ‘Best of Show’ at the Center for Fine Art Photography’s international competition in Colorado, USA. He was the first Bangladeshi to be chosen for the Photo District News Magazine’s 30 Emerging Photographers (PDN 30) competition.
He was awarded the 7th Vevey International Photography 2009 Grant in Switzerland. He won the most prestigious award in travel photography, the International ‘Travel Photographer of the Year 2009 (TPOY 2009) in the United Kingdom. In 2011, Nikon named GMB Akash as one of Asia Pacific’s eight “influencers.”
In 2012, he published the findings of his ten-year study “Survivors,” with proceeds from the book’s sale going toward assisting the book’s subjects in starting their own small companies and being self-sufficient.
In 2013, he established the GMB Akash Institute of Photography in Bangladesh, where he teaches students from all around the world. The earnings from his photography workshops are used to provide basic education to street children, talented kids from poor backgrounds, and child laborers.
GMB Akash has been asked to talk and discuss his work at the Fifth Global Investigative Journalism Conference in Norway in 2008, at TEDx Oporto 2011 in Portugal as the first Bangladeshi to speak at a TEDx event, and at TedxYouth 2019 at Sir John Wilson School in Dhaka, Bangladesh. In addition, in 2017, he was invited to the ‘7th Forum of Emerging Leaders in Asian Journalism’ in Indonesia. In Portugal, he talked, exhibited, and offered a master class at the National Geographic Exodus Fest. He was a featured speaker at the FE AUDITORIUM at The Maldives National University (MNU) 2019 FINE ART TALKS in Malé, the Republic of Maldives. He spoke in a plenary session and led a workshop at the QATAR LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE in Doha in October 2019.
Friends of the Earth International Photo Competition (The Netherlands), Fine Art Photography Awards 2017 (UK), The Worldwide Photography Gala award (UK), the UNESCO Silk Road Photography Contest 2020 and 2021 (France), The Siena 2015 International Photography Awards (Italy), Urban photo award 2015 (Italy) are among the international photography contests that have chosen GMB Akash to serve on the jury.
Here are some incredible and breathtaking images captured by Akash, which speak about his art themselves.
Have a look