JOIN USAfghanistan and its political troubles have made news headlines for years now; but here’s a rare opportunity to get a close look at its people, more specifically speaking, its most unfortunate section – the women. An award winning Canadian photographer Lana Slezic is showcasing her work on Afghan women at the India International Centre in Delhi. The exhibition, Forsaken captures the beauty and travails of these women like probably no one else has done before.
Lana is herself quite an example of a woman with spirit and courage. Working with publications like The Globe and Mail, Paris Match and National Geographic, she has travelled the world. In 2004, the Canadian Geographic sent her on a six-week assignment to cover the Canadian military in Afghanistan. While covering the war, she was so besotted with the beauty and incredible resilience of Afghan women that she decided to stay on and document them.
In her own words, “After the ousting of the Taliban in 2001, we were all under the impression that women are living in a less oppressive environment in Afghanistan. However, after arriving here I realised that nothing has changed for them. Tales of forced marriage, rape, domestic violence and honour killings abound. They are still confined to the home, not allowed to go to school and burqa is mandatory.”
“At the same time, I was surprised to see their zest for life. Once the burqa came off, I was always amazed at their beauty, the cosmetics, jewellery and incredible femininity. They were very friendly, welcomed me into their homes and shared many a stories and tears over endless cups of tea. I tried to capture these stories in my photographs as a documentary of their suffering as well as a personal tribute to them.”
There is no aspect of an Afghan woman’s life that Lana has not touched upon. Two young girls play in a building visibly bombarded from all sides. Apparently, these are the only playgrounds left for them now. A group of girls study in a sparse room duly covered from head to toe. A wind blows the shawl off one’s head hinting that studying could be ‘dishonourable for girls’ for some.
An old woman reaches out for a string of garlics hanging from a chord at her home. She stepped on a landmine meters from her front door and lost her legs. A prostitute shows off marks of beating on her back. Years of war have left many women here widowed with only prostitution as a means of survival. Then there are two very important pictures, of Shaima – a television host and Malalai Kakar – Kandahar’s first policewoman. Both were shot dead by the Taliban for being ‘too independent.’
However, it is noteworthy that Lana has not forgotten the aesthetics of photography while story telling. A woman in a blue burqa swirls as the white pigeons she is feeding take flight. Then there are portraits of Afghan women Lana has taken through a box camera. The old cameras, scratched and textured, produce a beautiful soft halo around their subjects and it’s difficult to say that the product is not a painting. Visibly, where words fail, Lana’s pictures do full justice to Afghan women.