Photojournalism

Exhibition | AFGHANISTAN : NO WOMAN'S LAND

Port de Solférino, next to Musée d'Orsay, Paris

October 25, 2024 - December 18, 2024

Join us in Paris for the double exhibition NO WOMAN'S LAND, devoted to the situation of women's rights in Afghanistan and presented by Mélissa Cornet and Kiana Hayeri as part of the 14th Carmignac photojourlalis Award.

In partnership with Amnesty International & PhotoSaintGermain.

Kaboul, Kaboul - Afghanistan - 22 avril 2024 | Shahla, 21 ans est journaliste et présentatrice.

THE REPORT

Over the course of the last six months, Kiana and Mélissa travelled to seven provinces in Afghanistan* to investigate the conditions imposed on women and girls by the Taliban, which, according to Amnesty International’s research, could constitute a possible crime against humanity of gender-based persecution. They met with more than 100 women and girls, barred from going to school, forced to stay at home, women journalists and activists continuing to fight for their rights, mothers watching with horror as history repeats itself for their daughters.

They documented how the Taliban, allowed by a deeply patriarchal society, have systematically erased women from society, taking away their most basic rights: to go to school, to university, to work, to travel, to dress as they wish, to go to public baths, to parks, or even to the beauty salon. In late August 2024, the Taliban regime further tightened its control by enacting a new law requiring women to cover their faces with a mask and prohibiting them from having their voices heard in public, including singing, reciting, or reading aloud.

The starkest change that Kiana and Mélissa noted since August 2021 was the general loss of hope among women that things might improve for them, as dreams of having an education and becoming members of society were shattered before them, becoming the primary victims of recurring economic and food crises, and a health system that has all but collapsed. In the words of one women’s rights activist, who has since left the country, seeing no future for herself in Afghanistan: « We have forgotten joy, we don’t know from where any can be found. I’ve lost all motivation. I cry alone, hidden. It’s as if someone has locked me in a room and won’t let me outside. Even food has no taste. »

THE EXHIBITION

The exhibition seeks to capture the gendered experiences that shape the lives of women and girls under the Taliban regime. Through a spatial narrative, the exhibition moves between the inside/outside dichotomy: a male-dominated outer space where women find themselves looking out from behind metaphorical windows, contemplating the possibilities beyond their reach. In stark contrast, the inner space appears as an ever-shrinking sanctuary, the only place where women can still express their humanity, embodying a realm of potential and aspiration.

Beyond these two realms, however, lies a fragile but crucial in-between space that allows boundaries to be reimagined and safeguard possibilities. A liminal space protected by women journalists and activists who play a pivotal role in using their voices to fight for their rights, challenge norms and advocate for change. They shed light on the hidden narratives and foster the dialogue that empowers women to reclaim their stories, thereby transforming their presence in both the public and private spheres.

The exhibition documents this extremely sensitive situation using a variety of media, including photos, drawings and videos, as well as creating works of art in collaboration with Afghan teenage girls.

Practical information

Réfectoire des Cordeliers
From 25 October to 18 November 2024
15 rue de l’école de Médecine, Paris (Odéon metro station)
Monday to Sunday, 11am-7pm
Free admission, no prior booking required

Port de Solférino, In front of the Musée d'Orsay
From 31 October to 18 December
Port de Solférino, 75007 Paris
Outdoor exhibition, free access, open to the public 24/7
In partnership with the City of Paris

The report

Gardi, Ghos district, Nangarhar, Afghanistan, February 13, 2024.
Gardi, Ghos district, Nangarhar, Afghanistan, February 13, 2024. In the absence of school buildings in Gardi Ghos District, classes are set up for students, between two main roads under the sun and on dirt ground. While boys can complete their education all the way to grade 12, classes were held for girls only until grade 6. As of today, girls are only allowed to study until grade 6, and are barred from both high schools and universities. In some districts, locally decided by authorities, girls are barred from school above grade 3. However underground schools set up at homes, mosques or alternative spaces continue educating girls, at a high risk. © Kiana Hayeri for Fondation Carmignac

Gardi, Ghos district, Nangarhar, Afghanistan, February 13, 2024.
Gardi, Ghos district, Nangarhar, Afghanistan, February 13, 2024. In the absence of school buildings in Gardi Ghos District, classes are set up for students, between two main roads under the sun and on dirt ground. While boys can complete their education all the way to grade 12, classes were held for girls only until grade 6. As of today, girls are only allowed to study until grade 6, and are barred from both high schools and universities. In some districts, locally decided by authorities, girls are barred from school above grade 3. However underground schools set up at homes, mosques or alternative spaces continue educating girls, at a high risk. © Kiana Hayeri for Fondation Carmignac

Kabul, Kabul, Afghanistan, February 17, 2024.
Un institut privé dans l'ouest de Kaboul où les filles suivent le programme américain en anglais, mais ne peuvent obtenir aucun certificat officiel d'éducation afghan, ni aller à l'université en Afghanistan, fermée aux femmes. C'est un cas rare où l'école a réussi à obtenir l'approbation locale des talibans pour fermer les yeux sur ses activités avec des adolescentes. 700 lycéennes étudient chaque jour dans cet institut sous des mesures de sécurité strictes, tandis que deux gardes armés de la communauté surveillent la porte et que les filles entrent et sortent une par une, laissant leurs sacs à dos à l'entrée. Malgré les attaques de kamikazes survenues avant la prise de pouvoir, l'institut reste plein de filles dont les rêves sont désormais de quitter le pays pour poursuivre leurs études à l'étranger. Malgré les promesses des talibans, les lycées pour filles n'ont jamais rouvert après la chute. À ce jour, les filles ne sont autorisées à étudier que jusqu'à la 6e année et sont interdites de fréquenter les lycées et les universités. Cependant, des écoles clandestines installées dans des maisons, des mosquées ou des espaces alternatifs continuent d'éduquer les filles, au prix d’un risque élevé. © Kiana Hayeri pour Fondation Carmignac

Kabul, Kabul, Afghanistan, February 17, 2024.
Un institut privé dans l'ouest de Kaboul où les filles suivent le programme américain en anglais, mais ne peuvent obtenir aucun certificat officiel d'éducation afghan, ni aller à l'université en Afghanistan, fermée aux femmes. C'est un cas rare où l'école a réussi à obtenir l'approbation locale des talibans pour fermer les yeux sur ses activités avec des adolescentes. 700 lycéennes étudient chaque jour dans cet institut sous des mesures de sécurité strictes, tandis que deux gardes armés de la communauté surveillent la porte et que les filles entrent et sortent une par une, laissant leurs sacs à dos à l'entrée. Malgré les attaques de kamikazes survenues avant la prise de pouvoir, l'institut reste plein de filles dont les rêves sont désormais de quitter le pays pour poursuivre leurs études à l'étranger. Malgré les promesses des talibans, les lycées pour filles n'ont jamais rouvert après la chute. À ce jour, les filles ne sont autorisées à étudier que jusqu'à la 6e année et sont interdites de fréquenter les lycées et les universités. Cependant, des écoles clandestines installées dans des maisons, des mosquées ou des espaces alternatifs continuent d'éduquer les filles, au prix d’un risque élevé. © Kiana Hayeri pour Fondation Carmignac

Kabul, Kabul, Afghanistan, March 2, 2024.
A group of teenage girls celebrate their friend's birthday at her house. Music and dancing have been forbidden by the Taliban but women continue to dance and celebrate in the privacy of their homes and behind the closed doors. © Kiana Hayeri for Fondation Carmignac

Kabul, Kabul, Afghanistan, March 2, 2024.
A group of teenage girls celebrate their friend's birthday at her house. Music and dancing have been forbidden by the Taliban but women continue to dance and celebrate in the privacy of their homes and behind the closed doors. © Kiana Hayeri for Fondation Carmignac

Kabul, Kabul, Afghanistan, February 3, 2024.
Girls playing in the snow in western Kabul behind an apartment block, off the main road. Since the takeover, women and girls' rights to move without a male chaperon or to go to parks have been curtailed, and very few opportunities to find joy in their daily lives remain. A snowstorm in a quiet neighbourhood of Kabul western suburb offered such a chance for an hour of playing together. Even then, an eye is always kept on the surroundings, looking for a sign of a Taliban patrol. © Kiana Hayeri for Fondation Carmignac

Kabul, Kabul, Afghanistan, February 3, 2024.
Girls playing in the snow in western Kabul behind an apartment block, off the main road. Since the takeover, women and girls' rights to move without a male chaperon or to go to parks have been curtailed, and very few opportunities to find joy in their daily lives remain. A snowstorm in a quiet neighbourhood of Kabul western suburb offered such a chance for an hour of playing together. Even then, an eye is always kept on the surroundings, looking for a sign of a Taliban patrol. © Kiana Hayeri for Fondation Carmignac

Yamit District, Badakhshan, Afghanistan, May 10, 2024.
Kheshroo's daughter and her cousin, both grade 11 students who were put out of school, committed suicide a year before by throwing themselves in the water. The family plays in puddles of water, among troops of yaks, horses and goats, in front of the Wakhan mountains, Wakhan, a region that had never been controlled by the Taliban before 2021. © Kiana Hayeri for Fondation Carmignac

Yamit District, Badakhshan, Afghanistan, May 10, 2024.
Kheshroo's daughter and her cousin, both grade 11 students who were put out of school, committed suicide a year before by throwing themselves in the water. The family plays in puddles of water, among troops of yaks, horses and goats, in front of the Wakhan mountains, Wakhan, a region that had never been controlled by the Taliban before 2021. © Kiana Hayeri for Fondation Carmignac

Kaboul, Kaboul, Afghanistan, 29 février 2024.
Des journalistes féminines travaillent dans le bureau d'un média axé sur les femmes. Depuis l'arrivée au pouvoir des talibans en août 2021, le paysage médiatique afghan a été décimé. Selon Reporters sans frontières, dans les trois mois qui ont suivi la prise de pouvoir des talibans, 43 % des médias afghans ont disparu. Depuis, plus des deux tiers des 12 000 journalistes présents dans le pays en 2021 ont quitté la profession. Pour les femmes journalistes, la situation est bien pire : obligées de se couvrir le visage, de voyager avec un chaperon, interdites d'interviewer des officiels, soumises au harcèlement et aux menaces, plus de 80 % d'entre elles ont cessé de travailler entre août 2021 et août 2023, selon Amnesty International. Sans reporters féminines, il devient de plus en plus difficile de rendre compte de la situation des femmes afghanes dans une société où les hommes sont rarement autorisés à les interviewer. Les sujets concernant les droits des femmes sont particulièrement sensibles, et la pression exercée sur les médias et les journalistes a fait de l'autocensure la nouvelle norme pour les reportages. © Kiana Hayeri pour Fondation Carmignac

Kaboul, Kaboul, Afghanistan, 29 février 2024.
Des journalistes féminines travaillent dans le bureau d'un média axé sur les femmes. Depuis l'arrivée au pouvoir des talibans en août 2021, le paysage médiatique afghan a été décimé. Selon Reporters sans frontières, dans les trois mois qui ont suivi la prise de pouvoir des talibans, 43 % des médias afghans ont disparu. Depuis, plus des deux tiers des 12 000 journalistes présents dans le pays en 2021 ont quitté la profession. Pour les femmes journalistes, la situation est bien pire : obligées de se couvrir le visage, de voyager avec un chaperon, interdites d'interviewer des officiels, soumises au harcèlement et aux menaces, plus de 80 % d'entre elles ont cessé de travailler entre août 2021 et août 2023, selon Amnesty International. Sans reporters féminines, il devient de plus en plus difficile de rendre compte de la situation des femmes afghanes dans une société où les hommes sont rarement autorisés à les interviewer. Les sujets concernant les droits des femmes sont particulièrement sensibles, et la pression exercée sur les médias et les journalistes a fait de l'autocensure la nouvelle norme pour les reportages. © Kiana Hayeri pour Fondation Carmignac

Kabul, Kabul, Afghanistan, February 23, 2024.
A group of teenage girls dance at a birthday party of their friend. Music and dancing have been forbidden by the Taliban but women continue to dance and celebrate in the privacy of their homes and behind closed doors. © Kiana Hayeri for Fondation Carmignac

Kabul, Kabul, Afghanistan, February 23, 2024.
A group of teenage girls dance at a birthday party of their friend. Music and dancing have been forbidden by the Taliban but women continue to dance and celebrate in the privacy of their homes and behind closed doors. © Kiana Hayeri for Fondation Carmignac

Kabul, Kabul, Afghanistan, February 8, 2024.
Kabul, Kabul, Afghanistan, February 8, 2024. A mother is struggling to provide for her children under dire circumstances. One of her sons suffers from a painful skin condition and seizure attacks but cannot be taken to a doctor due to a lack of funds. Her family burns old fabric or clothes from neighbours for heating. She is also afraid of sending her children out to collect materials because the Taliban have detained her 12-year-old son multiple times, believing him to be a beggar: "I walked all the way to Bagh-e-Bala prison and back it was night, and cold. In the prison, they would get water but no food, and he had his boots but no clothes." The family is facing severe financial difficulties, with five months of overdue rent at 1,500 Afghanis per month (19.50 euros). Her husband, who previously worked in a factory, is now unable to work due to a spine injury."Before the change, things were good, I could send my kids on the street to work, they could bring back some money, and my husband was able to work." Despite the hardships, she refuses to send her children to beg for food, although they sometimes collect plastic to burn for warmth. She dreams of a better future for her daughter and wishes she could provide everything her daughter needs, especially medical care for her leg pains. "We have dignity, I don't send my kids to the neighbours to collect food... Even if we don't have food or anything to eat, we sit still and hungry, but we won't go knock on the neighbour's door to get food." © Kiana Hayeri for Fondation Carmignac

Kabul, Kabul, Afghanistan, February 8, 2024.
Kabul, Kabul, Afghanistan, February 8, 2024. A mother is struggling to provide for her children under dire circumstances. One of her sons suffers from a painful skin condition and seizure attacks but cannot be taken to a doctor due to a lack of funds. Her family burns old fabric or clothes from neighbours for heating. She is also afraid of sending her children out to collect materials because the Taliban have detained her 12-year-old son multiple times, believing him to be a beggar: "I walked all the way to Bagh-e-Bala prison and back it was night, and cold. In the prison, they would get water but no food, and he had his boots but no clothes." The family is facing severe financial difficulties, with five months of overdue rent at 1,500 Afghanis per month (19.50 euros). Her husband, who previously worked in a factory, is now unable to work due to a spine injury."Before the change, things were good, I could send my kids on the street to work, they could bring back some money, and my husband was able to work." Despite the hardships, she refuses to send her children to beg for food, although they sometimes collect plastic to burn for warmth. She dreams of a better future for her daughter and wishes she could provide everything her daughter needs, especially medical care for her leg pains. "We have dignity, I don't send my kids to the neighbours to collect food... Even if we don't have food or anything to eat, we sit still and hungry, but we won't go knock on the neighbour's door to get food." © Kiana Hayeri for Fondation Carmignac

The laureates

Kiana Hayeri (b.1988) grew up in Tehran, Iran and moved to Toronto while she was still a teenager. Faced with the challenges of adapting to a new environment, she took up photography as a way of bridging the gap in language and culture. In 2014, a short month before NATO forces pulled out, Kiana moved to Kabul and stayed on for 8 years. Her work often explores complex topics such as migration, adolescence, identity and sexuality in conflict-ridden societies.

In 2020, Kiana received the Tim Hetherington Visionary Award for her proposed project to reveal the dangers of dilettante “hit & run” journalism. Later that year, she was named as the 6th recipient of the James Foley Award for Conflict Reporting. In 2021, Kiana received the prestigious Robert Capa Gold Medal for her photographic series “Where Prison is Kind of a Freedom,” documenting the lives of Afghan women in Herat Prison. In 2022, Kiana was part of The New York Times reporting team that won The Hal Boyle Award for “The Collapse of Afghanistan” and was shortlisted under International Reporting for the Pulitzer Prize. In the same year, she was also named as the winner of Leica Oskar Barnack Award for her portfolio, “Promises Written On the Ice, Left In the Sun”, an intimate look into the lives of Afghan from all walks of life. In 2024, Kiana published a photobook “When Cages Fly”, was selected in the Joop Swart Masterclass and was selected as laureate of the 14th Carmignac Photojournalism Award with Mélissa Cornet.

Kiana Hayeri is a Senior TED fellow, a National Geographic Explorer grantee and a regular contributor to The New York Times and National Geographic. She is currently based out of Sarajevo, telling stories from Afghanistan, the Balkans and beyond.

Website: www.kianahayeri.com
Instagram: @kianahayeri

Mélissa Cornet is a women’s rights researcher who lived and worked in Afghanistan from January 2018 until after the fall of Kabul. Prior to August 2021, she researched women’s economic empowerment, their involvement in elections, in the peace process, violence against women, among other topics. After the fall in August 2021, Mélissa continued
to travel to a dozen provinces for her research, offering a unique perspective from inside the country on the degrading situation of the rights of Afghan women and girls. Since then, she has continued working on women’s rights under the Taliban, publishing papers on the impact of the food crisis on women and girls, on how to include women in aid delivery, on the mental health situation of women aid workers, and on women’s economic empowerment programs in a country where they are no longer allowed to study or move without a chaperon.

She is a cited expert on the issue of women’s rights in the country, and has been interviewed by media outlets including The Guardian, BBC, VOA, The Times and Frontline, as well as numerous French newspapers. She has appeared on ABC News, MSNBC, France 24, BFM TV, or Arte, and has been a guest speaker for events at the House of Commons and at the U.S. Institute of Peace.

She was named laureate with Kiana Hayeri on the 14th Carmignac Photojournalism Award in 2024.

Website: www.melissacornet.org
Instagram: @melissacrt

PARTNERS

The PhotoSaintGermain festival, organized by the eponymous association, created in 2010 and chaired by Benoît Sapiro, carries out each year a historical and prospective work, making room for emerging talents as well as for the most recognized artists of the history of photography. Organized in the heart of Paris, PhotoSaintGermain is anchored in a particular geography, rich in history and in culture, in the area of Saint-Germain-des-Prés; and seeks to gather and associate all the actors who constitute this particular topography. PhotoSaintGermain proposes a free and open access exhibition tour in a selection of museums, cultural centers, galleries and bookstores on the left bank, presenting a rich and eclectic program proposed by the associated galleries; as well as several original exhibitions and new projects conceived and produced by the festival.

To ﬁnd out more: www.photosaintgermain.com
Dates of the 13th edition of the Festival: October 31 - November 3,

Amnesty International is a movement of over 10 million people around the world who ﬁght every day to promote and ensure respect for all the human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Amnesty International is independent of any government, political ideology, economic interest or religious belief and takes action worldwide to prevent and end serious human rights abuses.
The investigations carried out by Amnesty International’s research teams in Afghanistan since the return of the Taliban to power in August 2021 qualify gender-based persecution - to which women and girls are subjected - as a possible crime against humanity. Afghan women are systematically erased and discriminated against in all aspects of public life, excluded from public spaces and deprived of all their fundamental rights, including their right to education. Those who denounce such infringements on their freedoms are violently repressed, and in most cases, those who ﬂee to neighboring countries are still exposed to threats, rather than being safe and protected. They are exposed daily to the risk of harassment, arbitrary arrest by local authorities, and of being sent back to Afghanistan . Moreover, visas to reach France from these countries are rarely issued. And waiting times in obtaining an appointment at consulates are constantly lengthening. In autumn 2023, Amnesty International France launched a campaign to mobilize, raise awareness and advocate for France to respect its commitments, issue visas and welcome Afghan women and girls in exile.

To ﬁnd out more: www.amnesty.fr

MÉCÈNE

Initial LABO a engagé toute son expertise dans la production de l'exposition NO WOMAN'S LAND du 14e Prix Carmignac du Photojournalisme : tirages et impressions, encadrements, structures.

Plateforme dédiée à la photographie et aux photographes, située au cœur de Boulogne Billancourt, Initial LABO rassemble en un même lieu une galerie, une librairie et une boutique connectées avec l'activité du laboratoire, où professionnels et amateurs viennent travailler avec les tireurs. Du tirage fine art aux expositions très grands format, le laboratoire met son exigence et ses capacités créatives, techniques et industrielles au service des projets des photographes, des institutions, des festivals et rencontres photographiques.