COURAGE UNDER TALIBAN FIRE

As Afghan photographer Rada Akbar looks for refuge, she has found for her art a safe space online

Being a photographer in Afghanistan has never been easy, but until last year, Rada Akbar, 33, it seemed, was beating the odds. Abarzanan (Superwomen), a project she had begun in 2018, was the toast of Kabul. President Ashraf Ghani had given Akbar the keys to Darul Aman Palace for her International Women’s Day exhibitions. In 2020, Akbar impressed all with her feminist storytelling. As inspiration, the visual artist had used the biographies of 10 strong, radical women.

“Interacting with the international community is frustrating,” says Akbar. “They look at Afghan women as one single package of victims. It’s like we only came into being in 2001 and had no history or culture before that. Women have impacted

Afghanistan for thousands of years. With Abarzanan, I wanted to honour their contribution.” In September, Akbar’s hopes for a bright Afghan future started giving way to overwhelming fear. The Taliban had begun targeting journalists and activists, “anyone who was a threat to the extremists.”

Akbar, who has lived alone in a Kabul apartment ever since she was 23, remembers being scared for her life. “I received messages and calls from unknown numbers. Strangers would knock on my door at odd hours.” It was in February that the Indian Embassy in Kabul granted her an emergency visa. Having visited India over a dozen times, Delhi felt like home. “It took me a few days to just process all that trauma, but slowly, India helped me relax. I found some strength and with that, I returned to Kabul for Abarzanan.” Even though Akbar’s friends and security team advised against any sort of exhibition this year, Akbar was adamant. She decided to take Abarzanan online. “Because there would be no visitors, we lined the hall in Darul Aman Palace with chairs and on them we pasted pictures of all those who had been targeted and killed by the Taliban.” Watching the video of Akbar delivering her annual speech

In her body of work titled Abarzanan, RADA AKBAR honours the contribution of Afghan women to their country

in an empty palace does, of course, accentuate Akbar’s loneliness but it also highlights Afghanistan’s present plight.

Akbar doesn’t believe that Indian photojournalist Danish Siddiqui was simply caught in Taliban crossfire last week. “He was targeted because of his nationality. My first thought was that if they can do this to him, what will they do to us?” Akbar has now started looking for ways to leave: “It’s devastating to have to leave your country only to survive, but it’s my only option.” In the end, she points to the photos of children she posts on Instagram: “I feel we would all do better by focusing on this next generation.” ■