Kiana Hayeri and Mélissa Cornet – No Woman’s Land

Kiana Hayeri’s LOBA 2022 winning series, „Written on the Ice, Left in the Sun“, focused on the daily lives of people in Afghanistan, following the withdrawal of Western troops. Even then, it was clear how radically the rights and freedoms of women and girls, in particular, would be restricted by the Taliban regime. In her latest photo book, the photographer, together with text author Mélissa Cornet, focuses on the reality of life for women in Afghanistan.

No Woman’s Land documents the very personal stories of women who are representative of the systematic suppression in the country. In 2024, photographer Kiana Hayeri travelled through seven Afghan provinces, together with author and journalist Mélissa Cornet. They interviewed over 100 women and girls, many of whom have been denied access to schools and are confined to their homes; journalists and activists, who continue to fight for their rights; mothers who have to see how history is repeated for their daughters; and LGBTQI+ people, whose existence is silently being erased. They documented the Taliban’s systematic erosion of women’s most fundamental rights: women have been banned from nearly every aspect of public life: schools, universities, most workplaces – even parks, beauty salons, and bathhouses. Women must cover their faces, always be accompanied by a man, never let their voices be heard in public. The list of prohibitions, long as a prayer, reads like a mourning song for every freedom taken. “To be a woman in Afghanistan today is to live in absence: unseen, unheard,” say the book authors. With their pictures and interviews, they try to give the women visibility and make their stories public. They not only reveal the women’s incredibly difficult daily lives, but also see their book as a testimony to the resilience and courage of those who live through this reality.

It is clear that the collective failure of the international community lies not only in the hasty withdrawal of 2021, but also in its continued inaction and tacit acceptance of the situation that Afghan women continue to face today. “The story of Afghan women is the story of every woman, everywhere in the world, united by their daily struggle against relentless attacks on their rights,” the authors explain. Their urgent appeal at the end of the book reads, “In Afghanistan today, women can’t live, and they can’t leave. We can and must do better to support them. Their fight, our fight, is far from over.”

Divided into a number of chapters, the photo book includes exclusive, never-before-published images, complemented by archival pictures, Polaroid works of art, sketches and collaborative works created with teenage Afghan girls. In addition, it offers extensive accompanying material, including historical background information and archival documents.

Since its publication, No Woman’s Land has received a number of international awards. These include the World Press Photo Award; two Pictures of the Year International (one for first place in the Issue Reporting Picture Story category); and an Amnesty International Media Award.

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