Disasters of War.

Photographs by Khalid Hadid. Edited by Edward Grazda. Essay by Lukas Birk.

Fraglich Publishing, 2021. English & Pashto, 104 pp., 6x7¾".

Edition of 400 numbered copies.

As an 11 year old boy, Khalid Hadi, was made a photographer at a relief foundation for victims of the Afghan-Soviet war in Kandahar, South Afghanistan. Orphans, wounded fighters, civilians. For three years he photographed thousands upon thousands of casualties from the conflict with a wooden box camera for the administration of the foundation.

When the Taliban took over most of Afghanistan, he was determined to continue working as a photographer and took a job for the oppressive rulers; Taking pictures of infrastructure and other Taliban projects. But after a few years he could not bare it any longer and fled to the USA where by chance he encountered photographer Edward Grazda. This was in 2001, just before 9/11.

Khalid presented Grazda with a photograph of the Taliban leader Mullah Omar, which he took 8 years prior while working for the foundation. Mullah Omar’s eye was wounded while fighting as a Mujahedin. At this time Mullah Omar, although a 'most wanted' figure, was a mystery and no known photograph of him was available. With the help of Grazda the image was made public via Magnum.

Disasters of War, edited by Edward Grazda, illustrates a fraction of Khalid’s photographs in his years as a box camera photographer. The silent beauty of the weathered images hold the shocking violence of an outrageous occupation with hundreds of thousands victims. A piece of history almost forgotten outside of Afghanistan, yet it was the very beginning of the formation of terrorist groups, backed by western powers in the last years of the cold war. International terrorist groups that still echo throughout the world.

About the Limited Edition

Special Edition of 18: Includes a copy of the book with a Silver Gelatin box camera print.

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