3 x AFGHANISTAN
photos of realities

After decades of war, violence and suffering, Afghanistan tries to return to normality. Helsinki City Art Museum presents three photographic exhibitions at the Tennis Palace offering three different, limited perspectives on the current situation and recent past of Afghanistan.

Ordinary People presents Hanna Weselius' photos of everyday Afghan life in Kabul and a Pakistan refugee camp. Weselius and Katri Merikallio, a reporter from Suomen Kuvalehti, travelled to Afghanistan in spring 2002 with the express purpose of studying the life of women and families in post-Taliban Afghanistan.

Under the Veil consists of photos taken secretly from behind the burqa by activists of the Revolutionary Association of Women in Afghanistan, depicting political activism and violence in Afghan society. RAWA uses the photos to fight for women's rights and against social injustice in Afghanistan.

The third section, Taliban Portraits, presents theatrical yet intimately human portraits of Taliban fighters taken illegally. The photos were originally intended for private use. The German photographer Thomas Dworzak found them in a photographic studio in Kandahar, and they have since then spread around the world in the press, where they are alternately interpreted as proof of political dishonesty or human vanity.

3 X AFGHANISTAN does not endeavour, nor would it be able, to tell the whole truth about the difficult situation in Afghanistan. Instead, it offers three perspectives on the issue through the photographs. The exhibitions aim to give new depth to our notions of the situation in the country, to reveal new aspects of it through art. Each individual exhibition tells its own story of Afghanistan, but also demonstrates how photography can be used for different purposes. Thereby, the exhibitions also comment on photojournalism and the power of photography as a creator of different realities.

Guided tours: Free guided tours are conducted in Finnish on Wednesdays at 6 pm and Sundays at 2 pm; in Swedish on the 1st and 3rd Sunday of each month at 1 pm. To book tours at other times, call (09) 3120 87003.