© Kiana Hayeri
When the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in August 2021, women's freedoms and rights suffered a historic setback. As a result, the lives of Afghan women have been transformed, and many of the freedoms that once belonged to them, have disappeared into thin air. From January to June 2024, photographer Kiana Hayeri (@kianahayeri) and researcher Melissa Cornet traveled across seven provinces in Afghanistan to investigate the living conditions imposed on women and girls by the Taliban after 2021.
After the Taliban returned to power, many laws and regulations in Afghanistan quickly reverted to their oppression of women, and women's lives were gradually shrinking under multiple restrictions, from being unable to go to school, and be employed, to being forced to stay at home, unable to enter outdoor public places and beauty salons, and even being forbidden to express their voices in public. It's like even the most basic life is a luxury.
The helplessness and struggle of Afghan women are not abstract concepts but are carried by a real individual. Kiana and Melissa interviewed more than 100 women who were forced to accept these harsh realities. The most noticeable change since August 2021, Kiana and Melissa note is that women have generally lost hope that things might improve, as their dreams of getting an education and becoming members of society have crumpled.
In Afghanistan, many girls are barred from secondary school and even the most basic education is impossible. In February, Kiana visited a school in Nangarhar province and witnessed how girls had to attend classes in the open mud. They are allowed to go to the sixth grade, but in some areas, girls are not even allowed to enter the third grade. Still, underground schools continue to educate girls at high risk, in homes, mosques, or other hidden places.
However, some girls will no longer even have the chance to secretly get an education, because they have lost their lives because their hopes have been dashed. In May, in the Yami district of Badakhshan Province, Afghanistan, Kiana learned that Kheshroo's daughter and cousin, both 11th-grade students, had been expelled from school and had drowned themselves in despair a year earlier. Here, a family plays in a puddle in front of Mount Wakhan, surrounded by herds of yaks, horses, and goats. The Wakhan Mountains were never controlled by the Taliban until 2021.
While the Taliban's violence and oppressive regime blight their lives relentlessly, in some corners, there are glimmers of life. Kiana captures a resilient vitality in the girls playing in the snow, and in the women happily celebrating their birthdays at home with forbidden music and dancing. Afghan women have always found small joy in the most difficult circumstances.
During this process, one of the biggest challenges Kiana faced was keeping the women safe. Under the Taliban's watchful eye, any exposure could bring unforeseen dangers. Every shot, every photo published, represents a great threat to the personal safety of the interviewee. To protect them, Kiana uses subtle light and shadow techniques to hide their faces, ensuring that the women's stories are shown while minimizing the risk of exposure.
Kiana knows that this work is not just a simple interview record, it carries the fate of the interviewee behind it. She patiently explained the purpose and meaning of the shoot to each interviewee, ensuring that they made an informed decision after understanding. In an extremely dangerous environment, this building of trust is undoubtedly the key to their mission.
Through this in-depth report, Kiana and Melissa not only show the world the systematic persecution of Afghan women by the Taliban but also show us that Afghan women, despite the unprecedented hardships they face, continue to thrive in this oppressive land. The work won the 14th Carmignac Photojournalism Prize and is exhibited in Paris from 24 October to 18 December 2024.
