Afghanistan
by Steve McCurry
(Taschen, £59.99)

STEVE McCurry is undoubtedly an extremely talented and creative photographer.

His images from Afghanistan, taken over many years, have an intensity and a vivid painterly quality that, once seen, sear them in the mind’s eye.

His ability to capture stark colour combinations, textures and unique moments of daily life is phenomenal.

Many of his images are straightforward close-up portraits of ordinary Afghans.

He captures the often extraordinary rugged beauty of their faces but also the harshness of life reflected in their scoured features.

The portraits often have a Rembrandtian quality about them and the few interiors, in their detail and colour, are reminiscent of Vermeer.

But it is disconcerting to see how many of the people, including children, that McCurry portrays are toting guns, in the nonchalant way Westerners would carry handbags or umbrellas.

It is also notable how few of his subjects smile or laugh. They invariably look piercingly into the camera with pride, contempt even, together with a fatalistic stoicism.

This volume contains only a few images of the casualties of war, but we do see the ruins of towns and villages, like theatrical stage sets on which anonymous figures go about their daily lives.

Yet, while leafing through this beautifully produced book of stunning images torn from the context of Afghan reality, a sense of voyeurism intrudes.  

There is somehow an irreconcilable contradiction between the almost clinical beauty of the images and the horrors of war and penury from which they are abstracted.

The lack of explanatory captions alongside the photos, which could have provided the viewer with some geographical, social and political background, is a serious omission.

That lack is, thankfully, compensated by the eloquently written, passionately informative and historically fascinating account of Afghanistan by William Dalrymple in a postscript.

While it might seem unfair to cavil about a lack of contextual information in what is, after all, a volume of photography, I can’t help feeling that life in a country like Afghanistan, with its violent past and present, torn apart by imperialist interference and tribal conflict, cannot be adequately portrayed through photographs alone, however evocative.

I wish McCurry had used his talent to also interrogate the unreality of Afghani life, rather than lose himself in its seductive aesthetics.

Nevertheless, he is clearly deeply moved by his experiences and is the founder of
ImagineAsia, which helps provide educational resources for children in Afghanistan.

COMPETITION: Win a copy of Afghanistan

Courtesy of Taschen, we’ve a copy of Afghanistan to give away as a prize. All you have to do is name the country bordering Afghanistan to its west and send your answer on a postcard to: Afghanistan Competition, 52 Beachy Road, London E3 2NS or by email to [email protected].

Please ensure you include your full name and address with your answer.

Closing date: Monday August 28 2017