Sean Hemmerle
Administrator, Kabul, 2002
2002

Name: Administrator, Kabul, 2002
Brand: Sean Hemmerle
Price: 1800 USD
Availability: InStock

About the Item

12"x12" In Sean Hemmerle’s poignant photographic series “THEM”, a portrait series of Iraqis and Afghans. Each subject is portrayed frontally with no direction from the artist, allowing the individuals photographed to (re)present themselves. After witnessing the 9/11 attacks Hemmerle felt another response to these events was necessary and travelled to Afghanistan and Iraq where he shot a series of portraits. His resulting images are compassionate studies of people under attack by his own government. The past five days out of Kabul were enlightening. Initially, the purpose of my adventure was to photograph the battlefields, minefields, and remaining architecture of a country surviving more than 20 consecutive years of warfare. A Mujahideen soldier who had served in the north under Ahmad Shah Massoud accompanied us on the trip from Kabul to Kunduz to Taloqan. He pointed out the areas along our route where fighting had occurred. He spoke almost incessantly, pointing at the horizon, providing details of battles too numerous to recount. Every vista was a memorial. Every road was mined. The entire landscape was a reminder of the war that consumed the country. Gutted tanks and charred personnel carriers are to Afghanistan what convenience stores are to America. The land here has been so thoroughly mined that one would be reckless to proceed on an open plain. Many miles of roadway are dotted with small red signs or red and white painted rocks that warn of mines. Many structures are painted with white check marks, signaling that they have been cleared of mines. Only established roadways and fresh footprints are safe for traversing this landscape. Almost all the remaining architecture bears signs of fighting. Many small structures are made from battle detritus. Between Mazar and Pol-I-Khomri, I saw a home, the roof of which was made of sod laid over used artillery shell casings. Discarded tank tracks are laid across the roadway and covered with earth to serve as speed bumps. Children play atop rusting tanks, pushing each other around on the turret like a merry-go-round. I have made 1,600 exposures thus far. If there is one frame that contains a building unscarred by bullets or shrapnel, and even one landscape devoid of mines or other war machines, it will be a sweet surprise. Sean Hemmerle is a New York based photographer whose work ranges from international conflict zones to deserted industrial towns in the United States. His conflict images span over 10 years, beginning with the World Trade Center collapse, and continuing with sites such as Kabul, Baghdad, Gaza, Juarez and Beirut. Closer to home, Hemmerle has created award-winning photographs that reflect the pathos and poetry of U.S. Rust Belt areas in Detroit, Pittsburgh, Toledo, Gary, and Albany.

Creator:

Sean Hemmerle (1966, American)

Creation Year:

2002

Dimensions:

Height: 12 in (30.48 cm)Width: 12 in (30.48 cm)

Medium:

C Print

Movement & Style:

Contemporary

Period:

21st Century