What does life look like for women in Afghanistan today, following twenty years of U.S. occupation and the Taliban’s rapid return to power?
In just over three years, Afghan women have been systematically excluded from nearly every aspect of public life: they are barred from schools, universities, most workplaces, and even parks and bathhouses. They must cover their faces in public, always be accompanied by a man, and never let their voices be heard in public.
In this event, we will speak with women’s rights researcher Mélissa Cornet and photographer Kiana Hayeri, who have spent years living and working in Afghanistan, witnessing firsthand the increasing suppression of women’s rights. After becoming laureates of the Carmignac Photojournalism Award in 2024, Cornet and Hayeri traveled across seven provinces over ten weeks, interviewing over 100 Afghan women and girls about how their lives have transformed under these harsh restrictions. Their stories reveal a complex mix of resilience, defiance, and despair.
How did Cornet and Hayeri connect with Afghan women amidst such challenging circumstances? Did their status as foreign women impact their interactions? What steps did they take to create a safe environment and ensure everyone’s security? And how has the global community reacted to the stories they’ve shared?
Join us on January 30 at 12:00 EST / 18:00 CET for their presentation, followed by a Q&A session.
A recording of this conversation will be available in our Video Collection shortly after the event.
The VII Foundation online events are made possible by our partnership with PhotoWings.
