How I left my beloved country with a small suitcase - not big enough to hold all my dreams, memories, my love and what I worked for here. Words cannot describe how I feel - deeply in grief and with a broken heart, ”wrote photo artist Fatimah Hossaini on Twitter before she was able to leave Kabul on an evacuation flight last Wednesday. With the help of the French embassy, the Afghan born in Tehran managed to leave the country - destination: Paris. Hossaini has lived in Kabul since 2018, and her art focuses on Afghan women and how diverse their lives are. Before moving to Kabul, Hossaini had completed her studies in industrial engineering and photography in Tehran and worked internationally as an artist.As an activist, she works with the Mastooraat Art Organization, which she founded, for the rights of women and for the freedom of art. Fatimah Hossaini's photographs of the last few days tell of how her normality is shattered - how she hides from the Taliban with other women, how she deletes documents and posts that could draw attention to them, and how the city in which she lived looks like , changed from hour to hour. The pictures are the diary of their escape - and of the despair into which the country plunges. (@HossainiFatimah https://fatimahosaini.com/)how her normalcy falls apart - how she hides from the Taliban with other women, how she deletes documents and posts that could draw attention to her, and how the city in which she lived is changing from hour to hour. The pictures are the diary of their escape - and of the despair into which the country plunges. (@HossainiFatimah https://fatimahosaini.com/)how her normalcy falls apart - how she hides from the Taliban with other women, how she deletes documents and posts that could draw attention to her, and how the city in which she lived is changing from hour to hour. The pictures are the diary of their escape - and of the despair into which the country plunges. (@HossainiFatimah https://fatimahosaini.com/)
How are you?
I am relieved to be safe and at the same time full of concern for the people in Afghanistan. Especially about women. It was shocking to see that just a few hours after the Taliban came to power in Kabul, women were threatened and beaten on the streets. Not just them - also men who tried to get to the airport through the roadblocks. The Taliban yelled at them: You are traitors, you want to go to America, but you are Muslims. The willingness to use violence is just as deep as the hatred. And civil society is afraid, terribly afraid. It took a few tries before I managed to get to the airport. The first taxi driver I called shortly after taking power said to me: A single woman? I can't take you with me.By then the Taliban had already taken control of the road to the airport.
How did you manage to leave Kabul?
Thanks to a few friends and with the help of the French embassy, I was evacuated with other artists and photojournalists last Wednesday.
Before that, I was in hiding with a friend's family for a few days.
In a matter of hours, living alone as a woman had become a risk.
I have also deleted all documents that indicate that I work as an artist and that I work with my organization Mastooraat Art for art, women's rights and peace.
One day before the evacuation flight, the Taliban checked my friend's house and asked whether any members of the family had worked for the government - or as journalists, artists or activists.
My friend's father spoke to them and said no.
That put him in danger too.
Why didn't you try to leave Kabul earlier?
This is probably not easy to understand from the outside.
During my years in Afghanistan, I saw a lot of Taliban propaganda.
I and the people around me were aware that the situation was getting worse for us and that we had to leave Kabul.
But nobody believed that the takeover would take place in such a short time.
We thought it was propaganda.
When I tried to book a civil flight to Istanbul, it was too late.
I had hoped to be able to do more - for people in my network in Kabul, for other artists and journalists.
That's why I delayed my departure.