Photography for the majority world

The photography agency Drik was set up in Dhaka, Bangladesh, in 1990 in a bid to challenge the western media hegemony. It was established to represent a group of photographers that agencies in the developed world would not take on. Drik says that its vision is "one that sees the majority world, not as fodder for disaster reporting, but as a vibrant source of human energy and a challenge to an exploitative global economic system."

Since its beginnings the agency has expanded not only geographically, but also in its scope, providing services that include publication, multimedia and Internet departments, an education wing training the region's working class children in photojournalism skills, and the first Asian photography festival. The Drik network now stretches across Asia, Africa and Europe.

openDemocracy's Charlie Devereux caught up with Suvendu Chatterjee, director of Drik India, at the Democratic Image symposium in Manchester. He spoke to him about Drik's initiatives and about whether advancements in technology were allowing organisations such as his to stand on equal terms with their western counterparts on the world media stage.