The majority of images we see of Afghanistan, Yemen, Mali, and Syria are through the lens of professional photographers. War isolates talented individuals from the outside world. Aside from news agencies covering conflict, photographers from war-torn countries have few opportunities to sell their work. ISHKAR’s latest initiative has brought together a new series of beautiful, powerful and intriguing images challenging this status quo and giving talented local photographer’s a whole new outlet for their work.
Every four months, ISHKAR will select and publish images under a new theme. This first edition’s focus is architecture. There has been widespread coverage of war’s impact on ancient architecture like the Buddhas of Bamiyan or Palmyra in the international media, however many of the photographers in this series chose not to make these their principal subjects. Instead many of the images focus on the architecture which surrounds their everyday lives.
ISHKAR found the selected photographers through different social media channels and through recommendations from friends. The photographers level of experience varies greatly: some are professionals working for news or advertising agencies, others are talented amateurs taking lower resolution photographs on their phones. Nevertheless, whatever their background ISHKAR’s objective remains the same – to give photographers a new platform where they can tell their stories.
All of the photographs are available as individual prints or bespoke framed editions here.
