[Audio below]
Qais Munhazim, an Afghan living in the Twin Cities, will be showing a series of photographs at the University of Minnesota. A year ago he embarked on a photography project around Afghanistan showing the daily life of Afghans. Munhazim says that it is impossible for foreign journalists to capture the legacies of war. The exhibit “Afghanistan in My Camera: Afghanistan through an Afghan’s Eyes”
Decades of war have shifted the focus of photography in Afghanistan from capturing the vast landscapes to covering the war and its often tragic aftermath. I, an Afghan from a tiny corner of Kabul, with a better understanding of and familiarity with Afghans and Afghanistan would like to show another side of Afghanistan and Afghans that has been largely left out or ignored altogether by mainstream foreign photographers. I seek to illuminate in a unique manner what Afghans see everyday. To this end, my work has captured Afghans and Afghanistan from an insider’s perspective. I do not claim that my photographs are free of my own subjective impulses, but it is critical that they are the impulses and subjectivity of an Afghan.
With the announcement of Osama bin Laden’s death Sunday night Afghanistan will undoubtedly make the news cycle; Munhazim’s photo exhibit offers an opportunity to see Afghanistan as Afghans see it.
Opening Ceremony followed by a film from Afghanistan
May 2nd, 6pm-8pm
Coffman Room 319, University of Minnesota
May 3rd & 4th from 10am-3pm Outdoor Exhibit
Northrop Mall, University of Minnesota
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