- Venue
- Ffotogallery
- Starts
- Saturday, March 11, 2023
- Ends
- Saturday, March 25, 2023
- Address
- The Old Sunday School, Fanny Street, Cardiff CF24 4EH
- Location
- Wales
- Organiser
- Ffotogallery
Ffotogallery presents ‘We Are Here, Because You Were There’, a collaborative project by photographer Andy Barnham and researcher Dr Sara de Jong. The work uses portraiture and quotes to document the experiences of Afghan interpreters employed by the British Army who recently resettled to the UK.
Photographer Andy Barnham has edited the portraits to help anonymise the interpreters still at risk, and have family in Afghanistan who are under threat. The portraits presented are a composite of up to a dozen frames which have been blurred or pixelated and then overlaid to present a final portrait. This process can also be seen as inflicting trauma on the portraits, in acknowledgement of events experienced when serving with NATO forces and escaping Afghanistan.
The quotes are from in-depth interviews conducted by Sara de Jong, which cover the Afghan interpreters’ motivations to work for the British Armed Forces, their working alongside soldiers, the threats they faced in Afghanistan, their evacuation, their early experiences in the UK and hopes for the future for themselves and their families.
Focussing on Afghan interpreters’ own stories invites viewers to engage with the people behind the headlines, and encourages reflection on the deep entanglement between the UK and Afghanistan. Together their individual stories and images reflect the structural and lasting impact of Britain’s military employment practices, immigration laws and foreign policy.
