On August 15, 2021, the world's media announced the capture of Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, by the Taliban. Behind the media story, behind the figures, behind the laws, each more absurd than the last, lie personal stories, faces and lives that change forever. Fatimah Hossaini was born in 1993 in Teheran, Iran. Her grandparents had left their country, Afghanistan, during the war against the USSR. As a result, Fatimah spent her childhood far from Afghanistan. The pervasive racism against Afghans in Iranian institutions made it clear to her from an early age that she would never be recognized as Iranian. In 2013, while studying at Tehran University, she had to return to Afghanistan for administrative formalities. This first return to her roots was an electroshock. After graduating from the University of Tehran with a degree in photography, she left to work on photo reports in Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Central Asia, before being offered a position at the University of Kabul (Afghanistan), where she settled permanently in 2018. Her life took shape between Kabul and Teheran, until the Taliban came to power. Threatened by the Taliban, Fatimah went into exile.

 

Fatimah Hossaini found refuge in France, first at the Atelier des Artistes en Exil, before moving to the Cité Internationale des Arts residence in Paris. She took her photographs with her. As contemporary art historians, we need to think about the images that will mark our times. What images will mark the beginning of the 21st century? There are some works for which we don't need to argue or convince. Because it's obvious. The images taken by Fatimah Hossaini have made and continue to make the rounds of the world, on social networks or in our more traditional media. They will continue to be a reference for decades to come. Her work is a piece of history. The history of Afghanistan, but also the history of us all. Because we have all been confronted with his photographs. In 10 years' time, we'll find them in our children's history books. In Afghanistan, Fatimah Hossaini has focused her artistic practice on questions of identity and gender. In Iran, she had always been given a very bleak picture of Afghan women.

 

Yet when she went there, she was confronted for the first time with their strength, resilience and beauty. Thus was born her Beauty Amid War series, which documents the daily lives of Afghan women outside the constraints of their country's patriarchal oppression and gender restrictions. Far from the sombre niqab, the women she photographs are dressed in traditional Afghan dresses. These images stand in stark contrast to the constant talk of war and burqas in the West. Fatimah Hossaini's work is about something else. Her photographs speak of the beauty of Afghan women, of the cultural diversity of her country, but above all of the commonalities that unite Afghan women with other women around the world. Do we really need to say how courageous these women are? Yes, they're courageous enough to shine through on screen.

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Text written by Annelise Stern - copyright ART GIRLS