Afghan Women life Snapshots

A window into the lives of Afghan women seems to have opened in India International Centre as a photo exhibition ‘Forsaken’ displays the pictures documenting Canadian photographer Lana Slezic’s two year journey in Afghanistan. It’s a window through which Delimits can look into the Afghan way of life.

The pictures would have never been captured had Lana returned home (as she was supposed to) after her six week assignment in Afghanistan. But what she saw during those six weeks, made her stay for what turned out to be two years.

“Living at a military base, it was only during some vehicle and foot patrols that I managed to catch a glimpse of street life in Kabul. I had left Canada with a perception that Afghan women have been liberated after the ousting of Taliban and now most of them go to schools and don’t wear a burqa. But from day one, I found out the disparity between the actual situation and the information being spread in the western media. So many Afghan women didn’t get to go to schools and still had to wear a burqa. It was my inner calling that made me stay and discover the truth,” shares Lana.

During her two-year stay, she traveled to all parts of the country and met many women over numerous cups of tea to understand their lives.

Asked if she faced any challenges being a woman photographer working in Afghanistan, Lana adds, “Because I was focusing exclusively on women, I met them in the confines of their homes and with permission from their husband or father. So I didn’t face much problems there as I found Afghans quite warm and trusting. Though, there were incidents when some men threw stones at me in an open field. So there were risks involved when it came to traveling, particularly when I visited Kandahar. I just relied on my translator Farzana for advice and tried to take precautions like being appropriately dressed in accordance with Afghan system, covering everything.”

Lana says that she tries to find a balance between artistic photography and the documentary element, as she wants to tell a story through her pictures in a compelling way. “And I love photographing other women. There is some kind of energy; an unspoken understanding between women that is so beautiful and can’t be found between a man and a woman. And now being a mother has made me sensitive to children’s issues. So I naturally gravitate towards women and children when I work,” concludes Lana.

The exhibition organized by High Commission of Canada is on till July 24.