{"id":1205,"date":"2008-11-14T05:36:40","date_gmt":"2008-11-14T05:36:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/?p=1205"},"modified":"2008-11-14T05:36:40","modified_gmt":"2008-11-14T05:36:40","slug":"afghanistan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/afghanistan\/","title":{"rendered":"Afghanistan"},"content":{"rendered":"

\nCharikar, Parwan Province, Afghanistan, November 2001. A man stretches out his hand to release a pigeon, the light catching his profile as the pigeon leaps with open wings into the misty sky, silhouetted in the low morning light. Further in the distance, a flock race above the mountains and rooftops beyond. It is an image by Seamus Murphy of freedom and peace, from this remarkable set of black and white photographs of the country spanning 1994–2007.\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nMurphy’s long-standing connection with Afghanistan is borne out in the close and trusting proximity with which he is granted access to capture intimate scenes of village life, and the spirit of a country which is often more crudely depicted as a mess of poverty and war.\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nHumanity, against the backdrop of Afghanistan’s awesome landscapes, is always at the fore in Murphy’s photographs. The barren beauty emphasises the physicality of Afghani life; the inescapable elements foster a raw vitality in the faces we see.\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nIn Gulbahar, Kaspia Province, November 2001, a crowd of men stand on a half-demolished house. A young boy on a horse stands patiently, and everyone is craning to look at the traditional sport of buzkashi, where men fight on horseback to claim a headless goat.\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nElsewhere, in Ishkashem, Badakhshan Province, November 2004, a father and son load a donkey with barley – its tiny rear end fanned out with bushels to at least four times its size. In the same area, a mother and daughter return home from work in the fields. The mesh of the mother’s burkha comes directly into the lens, and the daughter at the centre of the image, strains under the weight of a sheep wrapped over her shoulders and neck. They are all staring into the camera in what is a sharp confrontation with the extremes of physical labour.\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nIn the heat and dust, relief can sometimes be found, and when it is, is met with joy. A picture from the bathhouse in the Jadai Masegara Massoudi Hamam shows water and light streaming down over closed eyes, dripping from the nose, and a man smiling in pleasure, as the liquid cleanses and washes away dirt and sweat.\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nThese are scenes that we do not normally see. But Murphy’s pictures of war and killing also offer fresh perspectives. In one image from 2000, we are in the back of a car with Ahmad Shah Massoud, Afghanistan’s resistance hero, heading to the frontlines. Shah Massoud fought nine Soviet offences and was then driven from Kabul by the Taliban in 1996. Just one year after the picture was taken, we are told, he was killed by suicide bombers. A timeline in the exhibition makes a useful guide to the dates of control wrangled in this land, which over the last 100 years has been the pawn of ideological ambition.\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nSeamus Murphy’s images pay homage to a country whose identity struggles to survive in the face of fear, bombardment and conflict. His love and fascination with Afghanistan carries us deeper into its heart; to the people, its spirit and the land. This is a significant and humbling contribution to our understanding.\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nRuth Hedges<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\n\"dashe.jpg\"<\/a> Afghanistan\n<\/p>\n

\n \n<\/p>\n

\nSeamus Murphy
\nAsia House
\n1 July – 13 September 2008
\nwww.asiahouse.org<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1204,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nAfghanistan - FOTO8<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/afghanistan\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Afghanistan - FOTO8\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Afghanistan   Seamus Murphy Asia House 1 July – 13 September 2008 www.asiahouse.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/afghanistan\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"FOTO8\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Foto8\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-11-14T05:36:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.foto8.com\/live\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/dashe.jpg?fit=150%2C100&ssl=1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"150\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"100\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jon\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jon\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/afghanistan\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/afghanistan\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jon\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/#\/schema\/person\/52655249f7e3f6eff4e0fe2540d65137\"},\"headline\":\"Afghanistan\",\"datePublished\":\"2008-11-14T05:36:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2008-11-14T05:36:40+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/afghanistan\/\"},\"wordCount\":532,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Reviews\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/afghanistan\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/afghanistan\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/afghanistan\/\",\"name\":\"Afghanistan - FOTO8\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2008-11-14T05:36:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2008-11-14T05:36:40+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/afghanistan\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/afghanistan\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/afghanistan\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Afghanistan\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/\",\"name\":\"FOTO8\",\"description\":\"The home of photojournalism.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/#organization\",\"name\":\"FOTO8\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.foto8.com\/live\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/foto8logo_blk.gif?fit=124%2C51&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.foto8.com\/live\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/foto8logo_blk.gif?fit=124%2C51&ssl=1\",\"width\":124,\"height\":51,\"caption\":\"FOTO8\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Foto8\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/foto8\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/#\/schema\/person\/52655249f7e3f6eff4e0fe2540d65137\",\"name\":\"Jon\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6993c5976717725ffe3a4e678a401748?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6993c5976717725ffe3a4e678a401748?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jon\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/author\/wpadmin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Afghanistan - FOTO8","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/afghanistan\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Afghanistan - FOTO8","og_description":"Afghanistan   Seamus Murphy Asia House 1 July – 13 September 2008 www.asiahouse.org","og_url":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/afghanistan\/","og_site_name":"FOTO8","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Foto8\/","article_published_time":"2008-11-14T05:36:40+00:00","og_image":[{"width":150,"height":100,"url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.foto8.com\/live\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/dashe.jpg?fit=150%2C100&ssl=1","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Jon","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jon","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/afghanistan\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/afghanistan\/"},"author":{"name":"Jon","@id":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/#\/schema\/person\/52655249f7e3f6eff4e0fe2540d65137"},"headline":"Afghanistan","datePublished":"2008-11-14T05:36:40+00:00","dateModified":"2008-11-14T05:36:40+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/afghanistan\/"},"wordCount":532,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Reviews"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/afghanistan\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/afghanistan\/","url":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/afghanistan\/","name":"Afghanistan - FOTO8","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/#website"},"datePublished":"2008-11-14T05:36:40+00:00","dateModified":"2008-11-14T05:36:40+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/afghanistan\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/afghanistan\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/afghanistan\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Afghanistan"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/","name":"FOTO8","description":"The home of photojournalism.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/#organization","name":"FOTO8","url":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.foto8.com\/live\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/foto8logo_blk.gif?fit=124%2C51&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.foto8.com\/live\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/foto8logo_blk.gif?fit=124%2C51&ssl=1","width":124,"height":51,"caption":"FOTO8"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Foto8\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/foto8"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/#\/schema\/person\/52655249f7e3f6eff4e0fe2540d65137","name":"Jon","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6993c5976717725ffe3a4e678a401748?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6993c5976717725ffe3a4e678a401748?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jon"},"url":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/author\/wpadmin\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.foto8.com\/live\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/dashe.jpg?fit=150%2C100&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4ejRI-jr","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":188,"url":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/return-afganistan\/","url_meta":{"origin":1205,"position":0},"title":"Return Afganistan","author":"Jon","date":"19 Dec 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Zalmai Published by Aperture128 pp hardback\u00a322.00\u00a0","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","block_context":{"text":"Reviews","link":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/category\/online\/c131-reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1501,"url":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/destitute-in-kabul-afghanistans-drug-addicts\/","url_meta":{"origin":1205,"position":1},"title":"Destitute in Kabul: Afghanistan’s Drug Addicts","author":"Jon","date":"20 May 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Alfonso Moral spent four months in Kabul uncovering the destitute lives of it's heroin addicts living in the old Russian Cultural Centre.","rel":"","context":"In "Photo Stories"","block_context":{"text":"Photo Stories","link":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/category\/online\/c129-photo-stories\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Alfonso Moral","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.foto8.com\/live\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/05\/addicts25.jpg?fit=470%2C313&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":564,"url":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/robert-franks-the-americans\/","url_meta":{"origin":1205,"position":2},"title":"Robert Frank’s The Americans","author":"Jon","date":"15 Apr 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"This Land is Your Land... On May 15, Steidl's new edition of The Americans will be released, 50 years after its original publication.\u00a0 Frank was involved in this new edition which features the same captions and Jack Kerouac's introduction, but which has been redesigned under Frank's supervision. \u00a0 \u00a0","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","block_context":{"text":"Reviews","link":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/category\/online\/c131-reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2556,"url":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/tim-hetherington-infidel\/","url_meta":{"origin":1205,"position":3},"title":"Tim Hetherington ~ Infidel","author":"Jon","date":"08 Sep 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"HOST Gallery20 September \u2013 15 October 2010An exhibition of work from Tim Hetherington's extensive project on Afghanistan.","rel":"","context":"In "Exhibitions"","block_context":{"text":"Exhibitions","link":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/category\/on-display\/host-exhibitions\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"infidelathost","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.foto8.com\/live\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/infidelathost.jpg?fit=660%2C440&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.foto8.com\/live\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/infidelathost.jpg?fit=660%2C440&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.foto8.com\/live\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/infidelathost.jpg?fit=660%2C440&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1641,"url":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/afghanistan-a-panel-discussion\/","url_meta":{"origin":1205,"position":4},"title":"Afghanistan: A panel discussion","author":"Jon","date":"04 Jun 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Magnum Photos presents an evening panel discussion about Afghanistan, chaired by Peter Beaumont, Foreign Affairs Editor at the Observer with Chris Steele-Perkins, Thomas Dworzak and Abbas, whom have all spent extensive time documenting the country and its people, culture and religion. June 22nd, Cochrane Theatre, London and related exhibition starts\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "events \/ exhibitions"","block_context":{"text":"events \/ exhibitions","link":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/category\/news\/c72-events-exhibitions\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"abbas_news.jpg","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.foto8.com\/live\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/abbas_news.jpg?fit=470%2C312&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2174,"url":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/stories-from-kabul\/","url_meta":{"origin":1205,"position":5},"title":"Stories from Kabul","author":"Jon","date":"11 Feb 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Asef Ali Mohammad travelled to Afghanistan to ask average Afghanis their thoughts on the US occupation of their country.","rel":"","context":"In "Photo Stories"","block_context":{"text":"Photo Stories","link":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/category\/online\/c129-photo-stories\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1205"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1205"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1205\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}