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Launching
Remembering the people of Afghanistan Photographs by Babak Salari
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Award-winning Iranian-Canadian photographer Babak Salari launched his newest book, Remembering the People of Afghanistan at MEKIC Art Gallery on Friday, May 1st, 2009. Condrad Duroseau, Concordia University journalism professor and photojournalist, hosted this event.
Remembering the People of Afghanistan is Salari's second book, following Faces, Bodies, Personas: Tracing Cuban Stories. Both books are published by Janet 45 Print and Publishing.
Salari is a Montreal-based photographer and educator who has long chronicled lives at the margins of society. His documentary projects include: Iranian artists in exile, matriarchal, indigenous communities in Mexico, and marginalized communities in Cuba. Recently, he documented those displaced and brutalized by wars in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and Palestine.
In 2002, only a few months after the military invasion of Afghanistan by the US-led coalition forces, Salari traveled to Afghanistan to document the work of Médecins du Monde Canada. Salari's response was one of shock and disbelief at the extent of the dislocation, misery and poverty of the Afghan people. The level of anguish and destruction that Salari witnessed is forever burned into his memory.
A small selection of his more than 6000 photographs was later published in Location Afghanistan (Subversion Press). The project received the Gold Addy Award of the American Ad Federation in 2004.
Gathering together over 100 black-and-white photographs, Remembering the People of Afghanistan is a much more extensive presentation of Salari's work in Afghanistan. Through images of the everyday life of its people, Salari's photographs are a vivid chronicle of the terrifying reality of post-war Afghanistan. In a world brutalized by constant warfare, he brilliantly communicates the dignity and strength of ordinary men, women, children. Salari's style is documentary but his camera succeeds in capturing the poverty and anguish of individual lives, presenting images that are deeply moving and un forgettable.
Babak Salari interest in photography began as a teenager in his native Iran where he contributed to various publications. At the age of 21, his political activities resulted in his imprisonment for six months by the Khomeini regime. Upon his temporary release from jail, he fled to Pakistan, and a year later, arrived in Canadare where he resumed his study and practice of photography. His current projects include A Glance at Displacement: Portraits of Northwestern Bulgaria, a project which explores the emotional experience of Bulgarians in reaction to recent socio-economic changes, and a new multimedia work, The Colour of My Dream, that examines death, exile and love. Both projects are pushing his photography towards new and provocative directions.
About Conrad Duroseau
Conrad Duroseau is an established photojournalist and documentary photographer with more than 20 years of experience. His projects centre on conflicts in the developing world, natural disasters and humanitarian issues. His images seeks to represent human dignity in the face of adversity. His work has brough him all over the Americas, Europe and Southeast Asia.
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