Photographs by Simona Ghizzoni

Texts and videos by Emanuela Zuccalà

The taliban tried to erase their faces and their voices 19 afghan women reclaim their right to exist

On August 15, 2021, the Taliban reconquered Afghanistan after twenty years of Western military presence, once again establishing a religious dictatorship. The country sanctioned a chaos of violence, extreme poverty, and human rights violations. The Taliban established a gender apartheid that segregated women within the home, prohibiting them from studying beyond the age of 12, working outside the home, or going to gyms, parks, or beauty salons. In public, women were forbidden to show their faces, or even make their voices heard. For Afghan women, the only choice was between social death and fleeing abroad.

The 19 women featured in this exhibition managed to escape and now live in Italy as refugees. Their stories show us dynamic and project-filled lives before the Taliban returned to power: university students, humanitarian workers, tour guides, sports champions, women’s rights activists…

These 19 protagonists were involved by Nove Onlus in a project on the reappropriation of their identity, inspired by the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union; in a short film that, with interviews and exclusive videos of the capture of Kabul in 2021, delves into the stories of 5 of them; and in this exhibition, whose posed portraits express the newfound freedom to exhibit their beauty. In photographing these women, Simona Ghizzoni imagined giving them back the opportunity, for years exclusively male, to enter a photography studio for the pure pleasure of being portrayed.

These glances and these testimonies speak on behalf of all Afghan women. Finally proposing a reflection, empathetic and universal, on the condition of all refugees.

The exhibition is curated by Giulia Tornari; photographs by Simona Ghizzoni; general organization by Valeria De Berardinis; graphics by Daniele Papalini; prints by Digidà di Davide di Gianni; frames by Fiammeri.

The documentary is written and directed by Emanuela Zuccalà; director of photography Simona Ghizzoni; editing by Aline Hervé; original music by Omaya Malaeb. The exhibition is part of the project “I Nostri Diritti: dalla negazione all’acquisizione dei diritti per le donne afghane”, carried out by Nove Caring Humans and Zona.

The project is funded by ActionAid International Italia E.T.S and Fondazione Realizza il cambiamento as part of the project “The CARE – Civil Actors for Rights and Empowerment”, co-funded by the European Union.