Faces of Afghanistan

November 13, 2014

Selected photographs by Yvonne von Schweinitz are currently showing at the 'Versicherungskammer' Cultural Foundation in Munich until 18 January 2015
When Yvonne von Schweinitz returned from Afghanistan in 1953, the photographer (who now lives in Essen, Germany) brought with her a unique collection of photographs. 120 selected images are now presented in the gallery space of the Versicherungskammer Cultural Foundation in Munich. During her three-months journey through Afghanistan, von Schweinitz created extraordinary portraits of people from a diverse range of ethnic groups.

Depicting both people and monuments (including the Buddhas of Bamiyan, which were destroyed by the Taliban in 2001), her photographs capture the historic traditions that Islamic fundamentalists seek to erase from the country's cultural memory. For this reason, the images represent an important contribution to a new and more open understanding.

The exhibition is part of an expansive project, which also includes the display of a collection of war rugs from Munich's Fünf Kontinente Museum, documentary films from Afghan Film archive in Cabul, as well as the so-called Towers of Knowledge from the Bibliotheca Afghanica Foundation in Switzerland.

For further information visit: Versicherungskammer Kulturstiftung
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Faces of Afghanistan