Seen above is a photo by Seamus Murphy of Kabul, Afghanistan in November of 1996. This is one of a series of images shot by Seamus over a 25-year period in Afghanistan of the Ba Deli family. The photograph was taken at the end of his second trip to Afghanistan — the Taliban had recently taken over Kabul and Seamus wanted to revisit the family he had stayed with briefly in 1994. A rooftop photograph he had shot of the family on his previous trip included two more sons, who had since been killed fighting the Taliban.
These images will be featured in the J. Paul Getty Museum’s “Once. Again. Photographs in Series” exhibition, on view from July 9 through November 10, 2019.
Curated by Mazie Harris, the exhibition shows how photographers often record change through images in series, registering transformations in the world around them. Artists featured in the exhibition photographed faces and places over minutes, months, or years. Historical and contemporary photographs prompt reflection on the ways the passage of time impacts how we see people and spaces.
The exhibition also features works by Harry Callahan, Julia Margaret Cameron, John Divola, Donna Ferrato, LaToya Ruby Frazier, William A. Garnett, Richard Misrach, Gordon Parks, Milton Rogovin, Alfred Stieglitz, Paul Strand, Josef Sudek, and Camilo José Vergara.
