'We are here because you were there': Portrait project focuses on Afghan interpreters in UK
A new art exhibition aims to highlight the personal stories of Afghan interpreters in the UK.
'We are here because you were there' is a collection of photographs and interviews with Afghan interpreters who have settled in the UK.
Striking, broken images of Afghan men looking directly into the camera sit alongside hard-hitting personal testimony of suffering and struggle.
One man, known only as 'HJA', discusses how a soldier from 3 PARA, who he describes as his "best friend", was killed during fighting.
"They were supposed to leave the dead body of the British forces on the ground, but I brought him back. I wanted to send his dead body back to his family because he came to Afghanistan to help my people."
Another named 'VB' speaks about the struggles he and his family faced after the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan in August 2021.
"I was worried that they come and search my house and find my documents. We put a bin in the yard and burned everything," he said.
VB served for three years with the British Army and the French Army.
He and his family went into hiding after being attacked twice. Eventually, VB said they felt they had "no choice" but to leave the country.
The family tried three times to get to the airport to flee Afghanistan.
VB said: "At evening time, a sergeant major was smoking at the fence, he saw me looking really exhausted, he called me over and asked me if I had documents.
"I showed him my email from the MOD [Ministry of Defence] and he checked my documents and I managed to go from hell to heaven.
"We had no water, no food, we'd been standing all day, with my son on my shoulders. It was really hot, 34 degrees, it was a really, really tough day."
The photobook and accompanying exhibition tour have been put together by the Sulha Alliance, with all proceedings going to the charity which supports Afghan interpreters who served with the UK Armed Forces.
Co-founder of the charity and also senior lecturer at the University of York, Dr Sara de Jong, said: "I think it's really important for Afghan interpreters to recognise their own story, and see that people want to listen to that story, and see that their stories are worth telling.
"It's really important for us to show that these are people who have their own experiences of loss, of attachment, their own families, their own hopes, their own ambitions."
Army veteran and the project's photographer Andy Barnham said he wanted "to engage with the people behind the headlines and the numbers".
His original idea was to photograph the Afghans in familiar, typically British surroundings, but due to security concerns about showing the men's faces, he had to find a new approach.
"I had to work out how to come up with a means of showing a person's emotion and character but keeping [their] identity relatively safe so hence the composite of up to 12 layers [of photos].
"Each layer had to be worked on to make it as clean as possible but then almost inflicting trauma by blurring and pixelating each layer and then overlaying them."
He added: "They're not strangers, they helped us. We were over there when we needed them. We now need to recognise it's our turn to reciprocate and help them."
The photos taken by Mr Barnham won an award at the 2022 PX3, Prix de la Photographie Paris.
For VB, since settling in the UK, things are looking up for him and his family. He is now looking forward to seeing his portrait on show.
"I'll never say that picture is mine, I will see people react there, I'm very happy to go there and see people reading my story."
The exhibition tour dates are:
Glasgow, Tramway – 13 October-20 October 2022
Cambridge, The Cambridge Union – 25 October-1 November 2022
London, Last Supper – 23 November-7 December 2022
Cardiff, Ffotogallery – 26 January-25 March 2023
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