Two Afghan Cousins Document Women's Lives Under Taliban Rule Through Haunting Black-and-White Photography
Mahnaz Ebrahimi (born 2000) and Somayeh Ebrahimi (born 2001) — both pseudonyms — are Afghan cousins from the Hazara ethnic group and Shia Muslims. Former carpet weavers in Kabul, they fled to a remote mountain village after the Taliban regained power in 2021. With no formal photography training, they began taking cellphone photos around 2022.
The Art of Auto-Fiction
The cousins' photographs combine autobiographical settings with staged scenes that suggest dreams and fantasies. Their work was discovered by Madrid-based curator Edith Arance on Instagram, who helped present it at Galería Sura in Madrid in November 2024. The exhibition is currently on display at the Photoville Festival in Brooklyn, New York through May 30.
Arance describes the work as "auto-fiction," blending autobiography and fiction, and notes the use of light, shadow, and natural symbols as akin to magic realism.
Themes and Subjects
The photographs depict women and girls in burkas engaged in forbidden activities: bicycling, dancing, and playing with leaves. Titles and captions directly reference Taliban restrictions, including:
- Bans on education for females after sixth grade
- Prohibitions on music, dancing, and singing in public
- Limitations on dress
"I dreamed that my homeland was prosperous" — Farsi text scribbled on a wall in one photograph
"Life Is Today" shows a girl dancing without a veil or burka on a ridge. Arance notes that this imagery is highly unusual in Afghanistan.
"Liberation" depicts a woman throwing her burka into the sky, accompanied by poems expressing themes of freeing oneself from oppression.
"Girl by the Door" contrasts light and shadow to symbolize knowledge outside and the darkness of domestic spaces to which women are relegated.
"Vestiges of the Present" shows a female figure holding a silenced boombox, referencing the prohibition of music and dance for women in public.
A Dangerous Act of Witness
The cousins do not reveal their real names due to fear of Taliban retribution. They live in a remote Afghan mountain farming village with their families. The photographs are translated and accompanied by captions and poems written by the cousins themselves.
One photo shows a young girl cowering as an unseen gunman points a rifle at her, holding a school notebook with the message: "There is no justice."