Mohammad Shahab eslami

Title: Face Bridge

About the Photo:

Red Bridge (Pole Sorkh). When I arrived in Kabul and wanted to meet with the culture and art people, they mostly called the Red Bridge for the appointment. An area consisting of a crossroads and a bridge. In my first visit to this area, I saw that the youth of Afghanistan had come from different ethnic backgrounds in the Red Bridge. In cafes, bookstore passages, universities and cultural centres. Young people from the middle class and poor economic class with diverse aspirations and goals. A few months later I settled in to find work near the area. I crossed the Red Bridge every day and, with different people of different ages, I saw only young people aged 20 to 30 who want to change their fate. The majority of these young people are those who immigrated to the capital (Kabul) to study from the city. The cultural space of the Red Bridge region, as opposed to the traditional Afghan community, has been defined very modern and advanced, and I, who was a little bit later loved by many of these young people, asked myself why most of these young people are in a spiritual conflict. Although they like to behave modern, they still think traditional.

Kabul City has no definite safe place. The Red Bridge is threatened after many years and everyone is waiting for a catastrophe. In the Red Bridge, there is all the model of work and effort, but the youth’s focus for growth and development is gone. Some people decide to mask their faces. Some of them try to earn wealth through corruption. Some girls and boys want free sex and friendship after being released from family restrictions, which is in contrast to traditional and Islamic values ​​in Afghanistan. Some continue to study and conduct low-risk behaviours and, after completing their education, are thinking of immigration from Afghanistan. These are just part of the complexities in the “Red Bridge” region, reflecting the contradiction between traditional and modern lifestyles.

It’s been more than a year now that I may have been among these young people as well. I remember only the cloudy and dark days from different chapters with different colours in Kabul. Images of broken and incomplete panoramas, different days from different weeks and months. My days go by friends who have gambled their souls with this area, and everyone tastes in one way. With tea, with cigarettes, with lyrics, with money…! Most of us are friends in Red Bridge and we are all friends. Our faces are familiar to us. The faces we bridge together so we can not overlook ourselves. Face Bridge.


Photo Caption based on name of each photos

 
1 – AHMAD is 24 years old. He has been filmmaker at Kabul University. Cinematic activities have not yet turned into industry in Afghanistan. AHMAD has to find a way to move to progress in art. One of these ways is getting a scholarship. But there is not a healthy administrative system in Afghanistan. To succeed, AHMAD tried to get help from the power of popular political parties, but nobody cares for him. AHMAD has repeatedly been challenged by influential people with a heavy financial bribe…!
 
2. TARIQ is a true lover of the book. He has been 28 years old and has experienced a lot of work, but he does not have any good memories. He studies economics overnight and has to work at the same time. Usually with his friends, he is always discussing and analysing the conditions of the community, but he is not interested in civil activities. For more than a year, he has been seller in a bookstore. To earn money must work hard. He is entertaining with his social networking activities.
 
3 – HASSAN has grown up in migration. Iran has returned to Afghanistan for two years. 28 years old and read philosophy. He does not feel himself in Kabul at all. He usually prefers to be unemployed and to share time with his friends. He does not believe in immigration through smuggling and his main goal is to find a legal way to obtain a visa from Europe or the United States. He has been making various efforts for a long time and he has had various financial expenses, but so far none has yielded…!

4 – SOHRAB is 28 years old. Author and able journalist. He has commitments to his own rules and principles in life. He is not interested in lobbying and trading, even if he remains unemployed. SOHRAB always chooses “Red Bridge” to meet with his friends. Cafes for tea and smoking, and again tea and cigar…!
 
5 – BARAN is 27 years old. A professional dress model and amateur television actor. She chose the free style as her cover, and does not care about the traditional and Afghan anti-Feminist society. He has a friendly and moral relationship with the opposite sex. But traditional people can not judge well on her. These contradictions will cause stress…!