Mark Parrish presents his debut photography campaign Prints for Afghanistan, with a selection of previously unseen images that have been some 45 years in the making
Kabul, 1977. All images courtesy of Mark Parrish
In 1977, Mark Parrish travelled through Afghanistan on a school expedition, taking black and white images on Ilford film using his father’s Canon Canonet and his own Olympus OM1. During his journey from Kabul to the peaks of the Hindu Kush, Mark captured some of the period’s most iconic images. Taken before the unrest of Soviet rule and the resultant Mujahadeen rebellion (which followed mere months after the images were taken), Mark’s pictures depict a country at ease with its traditions, its neighbours, and its place in the world.
In the wake of the Taliban’s recent takeover of Afghanistan and shaken by the horrifying scenes of displacement and desperation that have resulted, Mark has teamed up with his son, Thomas, to clean and re-scan negatives, and to re-touch and release these images in print form to raise money in support of aid efforts on the ground.
A selection of five framed archival prints are on sale now for £125 each, or all 5 for £550 with proceeds going to AfghanAid to aid their ‘emergency support to deliver things like food parcels, hygiene kits, kitchen packs, emergency shelter for families who have lost their homes; and financial support for families whose lives have been uprooted by the conflict.’
This project aims to not only raise funds to support these efforts, but also to preserve a memory of Afghanistan unseen in today's conversations. A memory of a people full of pride and prosperity, uninhibited by war, as it was before.
Mark says about the project, “In 1977 Afghanistan was a very different country: friendly, open and welcoming with a culture that had surpassed even India in its glory, juxtaposed with the strategic development of a new society, fuelled by Soviet and American investment reflecting the country’s significance as a centre of trade and invasion routes between central, southern and western Asia. A country where the women wore trousers and skirts as well as traditional burkhas and whose government had given them the right to vote before American women.
To ensure these photographs are suitable to sell as printed artworks I retrieved the negatives from my archives, where they were looking rather sad and mouldy. My friend and Afghanistan expedition member Peter Ryley meticulously cleaned and scanned them, and my son Tom then selected, re-touched and formatted them for print.
The country I came to know a little is so different to that which is reported: life in Afghanistan has changed immeasurably in the past four decades, conditions have worsened and life expectancy has fallen. Yet the spirit of the people and their pride will have remained. I am grateful to have experienced a small part of the country and feel that these photographs show some of that. I hope they remind us of the innocence of the Afghan people: as welcoming and peaceful first, in a country torn by war and destruction second.”
