hamsafar: Laleh

I wanted this shoot to focus on different aspects of lighting and contrast while still fitting in with a theme of the isolation and displacement associated with the conflict in Afghanistan. One of my aims was to achieve this sense of isolation through the lighting. Although during the Taliban regime women were forced to wear a burqa outside, I opted for my model to leave her face uncovered to assist with the contrast and lighting. The blood on the model’s hands in the last photo is to represent the apparent ‘martyrdom’ that the Taliban approved of, and the willingness to commit a crime in the ‘name of God’ – this includes murder and suicide, which the Qur’an forbids. I believe this is a very strange mentality which I wanted to capture, albeit with a sense of mockery. I chose the name of the shoot, ‘Laleh’, from a Persian name which means ‘tulip’ – the type of tulip said to grow on the grave of young martyrs.