The photos depict the daily lives of women throughout the world, inviting visitors to see the shades of war, poverty, and violence on the portraits of women.
Deqqati presents unique perspective on the beauty and benevolence of women.
“With wars stretching from the front lines to the cities, women and children get involved in war as well, with the difference being that soldiers can conceal themselves in a shelter, but women are totally defenseless. Women resist all violence and hardships, and this resistance gives a special beauty to their faces,” Deqqati once said.
One of the 25 photos on display depicts two Rwandan women in search of their children who are staring at posters with small photos of unaccompanied children.
The photo is from the aftermath of the 1994 Rwandan genocide or “100 days of hell”, in which 800,000 to a million people were killed. These children were separated from their families while fleeing the fighting and were later found by UNICEF and housed in refugee camps.
Deqqati explains that finding the parents of those children was a serious problem at the time. He took 12,000 photos in 1996 with the cooperation of UNICEF and the Red Cross. After the photography work was done, the photos were displayed in refugee camps in several regions and about 3500 children were reunited with their families.
Deqqati has taken photos in many places such as China, Russia, India, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Egypt, Turkey, and France.
Deqqati has photographed many important events throughout the world during his 25-year career as a photojournalist and has acted as a representative of the United Nations in several countries to help in reconstruction efforts after wars.
In 2001, Reza Deghati co-founded “Aina”, a non-governmental organization that unites various artists in support for democracy and freedom of expression in Afghanistan.
“Women, Struggle, and Beauty” will continue until May 3, and photos from the exhibit will be sold afterwards to finance republication of Parvaz magazine in Afghanistan.
RM/HG
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MNA