Synopsis

These photographs are drawn from four trips that Chris Steele-Perkins made to Afghanistan during the course of four years. In the midst of a complex civil war, he aims to capture the continuing cycles of everyday life. Images from the front line mingle with scenes of disrupted life in the fields, villages and towns; of an orphanage; of refugees and displaced families; of lapis lazuli miners; of someone picking up the pieces after the 1998 earthquake; of a cock fight; and the horseback sport of "bushkashi".

The Spectre Of An Ancient Time - Review by Dr Lawrence Hauser

In this exceptional volume Chris Steele-Perkins has distilled four separate travel adventures into an enormously effective photo-essay depicting Afghanistan at a time when the now ignominious Taliban were just taking hold of and consolidating their political power (c.1995). Although the book has as its focus unending war and the horrendous impact interminable armed conflict has had on the people of Afghanistan, what is remarkable in Steele-Perkin's work is how the daily pulse of ordinary life lived within a landscape of devastation and ruin manages consistently to emerge through the gloom. Because these wonderfully evocative images are indeed full of life! And full of the great beauty and mystery of the Afghan people. Two written essays (one by the photographer is a splendid travelogue) complement perfectly this accomplished portfolio of haunting images.

Format:
• Hardcover 128 pp, 76 duotone
• Dimensions: 9 x 12 inches
• Publisher: Westzone Publishing Ltd, London, 2001.
• ISBN: 190339113X
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