Artist’s Profile – Arts Gowanus

Artist Statement: In August 2014, I had a unique and incredible opportunity to travel to Afghanistan and spend two weeks moving freely in and around the northern city Mazar-I Sharif, photographing the people and landscape. Too often, we forget that there are people, living ordinary lives, with the same everyday goals and struggles behind monolithic, two-dimensional media narratives and stereotypes – which has historically run especially deep with places like Afghanistan. In my documentary work, I seek to present the commonality of humanity, to bring the “other” face-to-face - a reminder of the person across the divide. The recent events of the final withdrawal of the American military and the 20th anniversary of 9/11 have brought Afghanistan and the Afghan people back into a moment of cultural primacy, and renewed my sense of reflection and urgency in communicating what I saw of this place that often feels very far away from us in every way.

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