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Edward Grazda

Taliban at Jadi Maiwand, Kabul, Afghanistan, 1997

Now On View

Description

Maker

Title

Taliban at Jadi Maiwand, Kabul, Afghanistan

Year

1997

Medium

Gelatin silver print

Materials/Techniques

Materials

Dimensions

Image: 30.6 x 43.8 cm (12 1/16 x 17 1/4 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

signed, titled and dated in pencil on verso

Type

Credit

Helen M. Danforth Acquisition Fund

Object Number

2003.30.3

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

It Comes in Many Forms

October 23, 2020 - December 18, 2021

Here, Talib Muslim men are shown outside a mosque in Kabul, Afghanistan, days before the Taliban banned the photography of living things. Deriving their name from the Arabic word for students, the Taliban are a faction of the US-backed mujahideen (strugglers) who fought against Soviet occupation in the 1980s. Following the Afghan Civil War, they put a strict interpretation of religious texts into practice.

According to more conservative Islamic scholars, image-making is controversial, because artists do not have the same creative powers as Allah (God; SWT). This usually only refers to images intended for devotional use, but, as seen in manuscript paintings and photographs nearby, the line between allowing and obscuring faces has been crossed many times.

RISD and Photography

June 5 - October 26, 2008

Grazda has photographed the ongoing conflicts in Afghanistan since 1980. He described the Taliban’s rule in Kabul as of February 1997 in his book, Afghanistan Diary 1992-2000, where this image appears:

After five years of civil war in Kabul, most of the city was destroyed, and
many civilians had been killed or wounded. Everyone had guns, and there
was a general sense of unease….At various posts around the city, where Mujahideen fighters once camped, Taliban militia men and boys sat. Most
were friendly, and invited the guests for tea. Some let me photograph them, although they had been told by their commanders not to be photographed.
Many told stories of atrocities committed by Mujahideen factions during
the civil war. They said that now that the Taliban was in charge, Kabul
was safe and free from ‘corruption.’…A week after I left Kabul, all forms
of photography—even family portraits—were banned.

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Use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use. This object is in Copyright. This object is Taliban at Jadi Maiwand, Kabul, Afghanistan with the accession number of 2003.30.3. To request high-resolution files or new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.