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| Image Source: CNN.com |
This photograph came to be known or recognized as the "Afghan Girl" and her face reflected the adversity and struggles that people of her regions have to go through. It came to be known as the most identifiable photograph of the National Geographic magazine.
In the year 1984, Steve McCurry was told by National geographic to take photographs of the refugee camps along the borders of Pakistan and Afghanistan. He made rounds of the camps there and finally came across the Nasir Bagh camp, where a girl school had been set up consisting of 15 girls.
Among those 15 girls, his camera snapped the picture of the iconic green-eyed girl, whose face and eyes showed intensely, the struggles, adversity, pain, and, sufferings of the whole of Afghanistan.
When McCurry wanted to take her photo, she covered her face with her hands but her teacher advised her to reveal her face so that the world can know her story through the photograph.
The Harsh Reality
Her photograph when came to limelight, people started knowing and addressing their plight conditions and the fears the refugees have. It inspired millions of people and made them face the harsh reality.
Sharbat Gula was only eight years old when her picture was clicked by McCurry. Her piercing green eye gaze was transfixed to the lens of the camera and she was covered in a maroon shawl. When her photograph was published in National Geographic Magazine in the year 1985, her strong gaze could communicate with people.
Steve McCurry gained instant recognition after the publication of the magazine and it became one of the most globally recognized photographic portraits in the world ever taken. The photograph of her was captioned as "Haunted Eyes tell of an Afghan refugee's fears".
After the photograph was published, McCurry joined a crew from National Geographic Television and Films, 17 years in search of Sharbat Gula. In 2002, the cover story of the National Geographic was titled as "A Life Revealed" based on Sharbat Gula.
In her interview for the magazine in 2002, she revealed that she was angry when her photograph was first taken in 1984. McCurry was a stranger at that time and it was not normal for the girls of Pashtun culture to reveal their face to an unknown person or make eye contact.
It was later revealed that for the photograph she was moved to a different location to get good light and a clean background.McCurry wanted to take more pictures of her but she fled. When she saw her face as the cover photo of a magazine, she felt nervous and sad.
Her eyes reflected the fear of the war and the fear of losing near ones in the war.
More Problems
However, the photograph did create more problems for her as she was arrested in the year 2016 in charge of Fraudulent Identity and she had to serve 15 days in jail before being deported to Afghanistan. Still, her life continues to be in danger after so many years due to the conservative atmosphere in Afghanistan.
People in Afghanistan believe that women should not appear in the media and create a risk of being identified by the conservative Afghan people.
Many people argue that her photograph exploited her life more than doing her benefit. Her case highlighted the general public about the arbitrary arrest and the forced deportation of the Afghan refugees in the spat between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
She now lives in Kabul with her 5-year old son and three daughters her husband and her eldest daughter died in Peshawar and are buried there. She wants and tries to live a normal life with her children after all the hardships and tragedies she had gone through.
Written by - Srijita Roy
Edited by - Rudransh Khurana
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