Sharbat Gula

Sharbat Gula (Pashto: شربت ګله‎; born c. 1972) is an Afghan woman who became famous for her photo taken by photojournalist Steve McCurry during the Afghan War, when 12-year-old Gula was living in a refugee camp in Pakistan. The photo, known as Afghan Girl, became famous in June 1985 after appearing on the cover of National Geographic magazine. Gula's identity was unknown until 2002, when her whereabouts were verified and she was photographed for the second time in her life.

Sharbat Gula
شربت ګله Sharbat Gula
Bornc. 1972 (age 48–49)
Nangarhar, Afghanistan
NationalityAfghan
Known forCover photo of the June 1985 issue of National Geographic magazine
Spouse(s)Rahmat Gul (?–2012; his death)
Children5 (1 deceased)

Biography

Gula was born into a Pashtun family.[1] In the early 1980s, her village was attacked by Soviet helicopters and during the attacks her parents were killed.[1] Her sisters, brothers and grandmother moved to Pakistan to the Nasir Bagh refugee camp on the border with Afghanistan.[1] It was whilst Gula was attending school there, that McCurry photographed her and other girls.[2] It was later alleged that McCurry did not obtain permission to take the images, which contradict Pashtun culture, where women should not show their faces to men outside the family.[2]

In the mid 1980s, she married baker Rahmat Gula when she was aged 13, and returned to Afghanistan in 1992.[3][4] As of 2002, Gula had three daughters, Robin, Zahid and Alyan – her fourth daughter died shortly after birth; she later had a son.[5] Her husband died in 2012.[6]

In late October 2016, Gula was arrested by Pakistani police on suspicion of forging an identity document.[7] She was deported by the Pakistani Courts to Afghanistan, where the government promised to take care of her family housing, education and health.[8][7] In 2017 she was given a house by the Afghan government and a $700 per month stipend for living and medical costs.[9] She lives in Kabul.[4]

Sharbat Gula – Brussels – 2017
2012-04-05 MACRO Testaccio esterno

Afghan Girl photograph

In 1984 National Geographic photographer Steve McCurry travelled to Afghanistan to document the effects of the war, visiting refugee camps, many of which were on the Afghan-Pakistan border.[10][11] Whilst there, McCurry took what was to become one of the most iconic cover photographs for National Geographic.[1] Initially, the magazine's editor did not want to use the image, but eventually gave in, publishing a cover image which was simply called Afghan Girl.[10][12] The photo, which shows a girl with a unique green eye colour, looking straight into the lens, became a symbol of the Afghan conflict and the problems affecting refugees around the world.[10]

Identifying Sharbat Gula

The identity of the girl remained unknown for more than 17 years.[3] In the 1990s, the journalist made several unsuccessful attempts to find out the girl's name.[13] In January 2002, a National Geographic team led by Steve McCurry travelled to Afghanistan to find her, however during this search several women and men came forward, claiming to either be Gula, or to be married to her.[13] Eventually she was tracked down through a camp resident who knew her brother.[13] Her identity was verified by John Daugman using iris recognition software.[14]

In the intervening years, Gula had no idea how globally symbolic her face had become.[15] It is the only image to have been used three times on National Geographic covers.[16]

Music

The Finnish metal band Nightwish dedicated an instrumental work to Gula, on the 2015 album Endless Forms Most Beautiful entitled "The Eyes of Sharbat Gula".[17] Here be dragons, an album by the Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble includes a composition called "Sharbat Gula".[18]

Poetry

In 2017, the New England Review published a new work by poet Gjertrud Schnakenberg, entitled "Afghan Girl", which the author had been composing since 2012.[19]

References
  1. Lucas, Dean (2013-05-13). "Afghan Eyes Girl". The Famous Pictures Collection. Retrieved 2020-09-02.
  2. "You'll Never See the Iconic Photo of the 'Afghan Girl' the Same Way Again". The Wire. Retrieved 2020-09-02.
  3. "'National Geographic' tracks down Afghan girl". usatoday30.usatoday.com. Retrieved 2020-09-02.
  4. "شربت گل: در کشورم صلح می‌خواهم تا دیگر کسی مجبور به مهاجرت نشود". BBC News فارسی (in Persian). Retrieved 2020-09-02.
  5. "A Life Revealed". Magazine. 2002-04-01. Retrieved 2020-09-02.
  6. "Pakistan to deport National Geographic's 'Afghan Girl'". www.abc.net.au. 2016-11-04. Retrieved 2020-09-02.
  7. "'Девочку' с обложки National Geographic депортировали в Афганистан". РБК (in Russian). Retrieved 2020-09-02.
  8. "Afghan 'green-eyed girl' deported". BBC News. 2016-11-09. Retrieved 2020-09-02.
  9. "Famed 'Afghan Girl' Finally Gets a Home". National Geographic News. 2017-12-12. Retrieved 2020-09-02.
  10. "Washingtonpost.com: Live Online". 2013-06-01. Archived from the original on 2013-06-01. Retrieved 2020-09-02.
  11. McCurry, Steve (2016-11-03). "After her arrest, the 'Afghan Girl' is once again a symbol of refugees' plight". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2020-09-02.
  12. "Sharbat Gula: The iconic face of the refugee struggle". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 2020-09-02.
  13. Just advocacy? : women's human rights, transnational feminisms, and the politics of representation. Hesford, Wendy S.; Kozol, Wendy. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press. 2005. ISBN 0-8135-3588-3. OCLC 56517431.CS1 maint: others (link)
  14. "How the Afghan Girl was Identified by Her Iris Patterns". 2012-01-12. Archived from the original on 2012-01-12. Retrieved 2020-09-02.
  15. "Thinly veiled – Book Review – Religious culture". TLS. Retrieved 2020-09-02.
  16. "Thoughts on Afghan Girl's Third Cover Appearance as National Geographic Looks Back, Forward". Reading The Pictures. 2013-10-03. Retrieved 2020-09-02.
  17. "The Eyes of Sharbat Gula – Nightwish: Lyrics & Translation". musinfo.net. Retrieved 2020-09-02.
  18. "Sharbat Gula – The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble Key and BPM". songdata.io. Retrieved 2020-09-02.
  19. "Afghan Girl". Work in Progress. 2017-09-21. Retrieved 2020-09-02.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.