Images of Afghanistan: a digital exhibition of prints, drawings and photographs

An exhibition of digital material relating to the history and
culture of Afghanistan

Partners

• British Library (BL)
• Aga Khan’s Trust, Kabul office
• British Embassy in Kabul

Aims

• To display 100 high-quality digital copies of prints, drawings and photographs from UK national institutions in Afghanistan

Project details

Introduction to the collections
The British Library and other national institutions in the UK hold major collections of print, drawing and photographic material relating to the history and culture of Afghanistan, little of which has been previously seen in its country of origin.

This material was produced by travellers and other visitors to Afghanistan in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Records of Afghanistan’s culture, people and landscapes
While much of this material was produced in the course of generally ill-fated military incursions onto Afghan territory in the nineteenth century, the artists and photographers concerned did not restrict themselves to recording military subjects. They also responded with lively curiosity to the people, landscapes and culture of Afghanistan.

This material represents a unique visual resource for the study of Afghan history and culture, almost none of which is presently available in Afghanistan.

At the end of the exhibition, the digital images displayed will be presented to an appropriate institution for use as a long term educational resource.

Artists on display
Among the artists represented are:

• Charles Masson (1800–1853)
  Masson effectively founded the study of archaeology in Afghanistan in the 1830s and whose drawings form the earliest record of many previously unknown sites.
• James Atkinson (1780–1852)
  Atkinson served as a surgeon in the First Afghan war and who produced a lively series of watercolours, later published as Sketches in Afghaunistan (1842).
• John Burke (1843–1900)
  Burke was a photographer who accompanied the British forces in the Afghan Campaigns of 1878–80.

Exhibition details
The exhibition is scheduled to open in March 2010.

It is curated by John Falconer (BL), in association with the Aga Khan Trust’s Kabul office, who will be co-ordinating the installation in Kabul (with a possibility of a further venue in Heart), and with the support of the British Embassy, Kabul.

Image:
A photograph of Afghanistan (detail) by John Burke