Afghan girl calmly milks a giant: Best picture by Daniel Malikyar | Art and design

My parents and grandparents immigrated to the US from Afghanistan in 1979, just weeks before the Soviet invasion. I grew up in Los Angeles, but I visit my grandparents in Virginia once a year. He always takes pictures and films a few interviews. It was his desire to capture the moments of our daily lives that inspired me to write about the world around me.

I was six years old when 9/11 happened. Since then, the domestic and international views of my mother’s country have always been dominated by negative thoughts from the themes – terrorism, war, images of sand dunes, guns and despair. But back home in LA, I see the beauty of our culture, the food, the crafts, the paintings we had on the walls, the music and poetry, and the stories, paintings and pictures my parents had from Afghanistan. Their pictures from the 60s and 70s showed the country in its heyday. One day, I said to myself, I will create a project to show the world another side of this incomplete story.

It’s the time I’m in today, after traveling a lot in Afghanistan since 2018, everyone is looking at a different province or region. I have had the opportunity to photograph 55 countries around the world, including many places where I don’t speak the language, but I always try to approach all situations honestly and make sure that they are situations where there is consent and cooperation. It was very important to my father that I grew up able to speak our mother tongue: that connection has allowed me to discuss my goals in clear Dari and create an understanding that would not have been there for someone who looked like an outsider.

This photo was taken in a remote village in the Pamir Mountains, one of the highest places in the world, where there are very few Kyrgyz nomads. Kyrgyz people move three or four times a year, following the pastures of their livestock. It is an undocumented area. People don’t have visitors very often, so they don’t have policies or policies to show or express themselves. They’re being honest about their day, which is why they look so effortless in the photos.

Living in the villages, there is salted yak milk every morning for breakfast and yogurt made from yak milk for dinner. At night you warm the ground in the yurt by burning yak dung in the oven. The picture shows a girl named Shargha, looking calm and serene as she milks the milk in a stoical way. In this area, women wear red veils before marriage and white ones afterwards – the clothes are very attractive and are designed to contrast with the beautiful scenery.

The Afghan people are often portrayed through the eyes of an aggressor or a victim. What I hoped to do was to show them respect and honesty. When I photograph children, I like to go low, and show the shape of their eyes. There is power in this, which is why this image feels powerful and larger than life. Looking at it now, I can remember what I was experiencing when I was making it – the sound of the river in the background and the wind blowing in the small blades of grass, even the sound of yaks.

As restrictions on photography in Afghanistan continue to grow, this work is becoming more and more important. My mother hasn’t been back since 1979: she lived there in the golden age and wants to remember it that way. But I’ve seen how she lights up when she looks at my pictures, and the interest it creates – she’s learning about her world through her son’s eyes, and now she relishes the idea of ​​hopping on a plane to see it again with me. What a beautiful, complete, homecoming story.

Afghanistan by Daniel Malikyarpublished by teNeues on 4 August.