"Taliban" — Retouched Beauty of the Dead by Thomas Dworzak

The Globalist PhotoGallery

"Taliban" — Retouched Beauty of the Dead

Photo collection by Thomas Dworzak

Published by Trolley Ltd.

128 pages. 50 color photographs and 6 duotones. Dimensions (in inches): 6 1/2 x 8 1/4.

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“Taliban" — Retouched Beauty of the Dead

Photo collection by Thomas Dworzak

The portraits presented in “Taliban” are reminiscent of two major milestones in 20th century art — Andy Warhol's portraits and the hand coloring of early 20th century photography.

Lest we forget, before 1996, the Taliban’s strict version of Islam in Afghanistan allowed no photography or any depiction of living beings (mammals). It was the only government ever to ban photography even of its leaders.

The pictures

This book is due to an accident of history. It was just outside freelance photographer Thomas Dworzak’s hotel in downtown Kandahar in 2002 that a row of photo studios were re-opened for the wider public.

They had been closed down by an early decree of the Taliban leader Mullah Omar. There, Dworzak found stacks of pictures of the Taliban.

Nobody seemed to understand Dworzak’s immediate interest in them.

The owners of these photo studies explained to him that, when passport photography was again allowed, the Taliban would sometimes ask if they could pose for a more flattering portrait.

These were retouched by the photographer, secretly taken in the back room of the studio — and decorated as best the photographer could manage.

Most of these pictures, they say, are from Taliban members who had them taken in early November 2001 — but were unable to return for their portraits since they had been forced to flee the advancing opposition.

The photographers did not seem to think that the pictures were either contradictory or hypocritical of the Taliban. Nor did they seem as acts of dissidence or assign to them any particular value.

As there was little chance the Taliban would return to collect the photographs, the studios were happy to sell them. “Most of them are dead anyway,” as one photographer said.

The Taliban

The Taliban — students of Islam — sought to appeal to the apolitical structures of the prophet Mohammed. They wanted to create a world free of intrigue, political bias, bribery and corruption. The Taliban ferociously assert Islamic integrity and enforce Sharia law.

In the process, they nearly eradicated opium production in Afghanistan, oppressed women in the harshest conceivable forms — and ruined much of their country.

Author Thomas Dworzak

Thomas Dworzak was born in Munich. He began freelancing in Eastern Europe and the Middle East in 1991. Three years later, he was based in Tbilisi, Georgia, covering the Caucasas and Chechnya.

He became a member of Magnum Photos in 2000. His work has appeared in such prominent publications as the New Yorker, Newsweek and Paris Match.

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