Willy Brandt Haus is currently presenting in Berlin an exhibition of works by Yvonne von Schweinitz “Faces of Afghanistan” : 120 black and white pictures were selected from her vast 1953 work.
That year, Yvonne von Schweinitz traveled for seven months with Swiss photographer Hans von Meiss-Teuffen who became her traveling companion. They left Zurich by car traveling through Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Israel, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan where she remained for three months.
Her viewpoint provides a picture of the many faces of this region during the early 1950’s. Through her pictures, Afghanistan is featured under many angles: we discover the inhabitants of many regions and the variety of their cultural traditions, the architecture of their villages very different from the city of Kabul, the craftsmanship and the very dynamic ; the landscapes at times untouched, at times cultivated by man or used as dams or quarries.
Yvonne von Schweinitz went to several archaeological digs during her trip, including the Bamiyan valley and its infamous Buddha statues whose two largest (53 and 38 meters high) were destroyed by the talibans in 2001.
These rare pictures for the time have ethnological value as well. They provide images of this multi-ethnic, culturally rich and peaceful nation, a vision in total contradiction with what we have been seeing in the media for many years.
Yvonne von Schweinitz. “Gesichter Afghanistans. Erfahrung einer alten Welt. Fotografien von 1953“
Exhibition curators: Claus Friede and Mathias von Marcard
March 30th – May 27th, 2012
WILLY-BRANDT-HAUS
Stresemannstr. 28
10963 Berlin
The exhibition « Bilder aus dem Osten » (“Pictures from the East“) by Hans Madej is also on view now at Willy Brandt Haus until 17th May 2012.
