The Faceless People

As I studied Salgado’s photographs this afternoon I stopped at a photo of two women whose faces were completely covered with a veil.  All women were forced to wear these veils when the Taliban took Kabul in 1995 (World Press).  They were also forbidden to leave their homes except to collect food and medicine.  These masks are just one example of the cruelty of dictators like the Taliban.

I chose this photograph because the masks have a symbolic meeting as well as a literal one.  Before Salgado came along all of these people in the photographs wore masks.  We knew they existed but we didn’t know who they were so they meant very little to us.  We hear about their sufferings in school, in the news, and in books but we are never driven to help.  Salgado’s photos give these people identities, it allows them to take off their masks.  Now we know who they are, will we still turn a blind eye?

Sources:

Salgado, Sebastiao. Migrations. pg 75. Paris: AMAZONAS, 2000.

World Press. Taliban Timeline. 2001. 23 September 2013.