Afghanistan - History, Afghani Politics, War Narratives - General & Miscellaneous, Soviet History - 1964-1991, Middle East - Travel Essays & Descriptions - General & Miscellaneous, Afghanistan - Military Conflicts, 1917 - 1991 (Soviet Union) - History, Mi
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Overview
Afghanistan has suffered from civil wars: first from the Mujahideen war againts the Russians, and then from the fights between the different factions within the country, which led to the current Taliban government. Photographer Fazal Sheikh, whose grandfather emigrated from this region to Kenya in the early days of this century, takes us into Afghanistan, where he has worked for the past years. His in-depth texts and sensitive portraits of the people reveal layer by layer a population that has kept its dignity and respect for life through almost two decades of violent struggle. Fazal Skeikh has gained the trust of his subjects, they have told him the stories of their family martyrs, and they trusted him so deeply that they even shared their often haunting dreams with him. Images of the women, of the elders gathered around the gaslight, of children anxiously looking into an unknown future, and of war victims maintaining their pride, create thoughtful insight. This volume in engaged with human rights and war as much as with photographic representation itself, and with the quest for what the people of Afghanistan really think and feel.Editorials
Charles Hagen
Mr. Sheikh achieves a remarkable degree of trust from his sitters. -- New York TimesLibrary Journal
An enormously talented photographer, Sheikh has turned his camera on the displaced Afghan refugees living in nine villages in northern Pakistan, survivors of two civil wars. The book begins with children's drawings of adults and children being blown up by land mines, setting the tone for the sadness that follows in images and words. Villagers' photographs are shown on facing pages with interviews about their experiences. Elders share the region's history and religious roots; mothers recount the loss of husbands and sons and the struggle to keep their children alive. Sheikh's photographs are perfectly exposed and printed, their beauty in sharp contrast to their subjects' stories of torture and death. The importance of Sheikh's work is his ability to communicate--to unknowing and indifferent readers in the United States and Europe--the profound human losses from a faraway conflict that we know only through brief newspaper and television stories. An important addition to photography, political science, and Afghanistan collections.--Kathleen Collins, Bank of America Archives, San FranciscoBook Details
Published
January 18, 1999
Publisher
Scalo
Pages
256
Format
Hardcover
ISBN
9783931141950