Giovanna Silva: Afghanistan

In 2010, Giovanna Silva was asked to photograph a school in Afghanistan dedicated to Italian journalist Maria Grazia Cutuli, who was killed in a terrorist attack ten years before. Silva was housed at the Italian base in Herat, a western province of the country. She lived there for two weeks in close contact with the military personnel, moving around with them and seeing the country from their standpoint. Her photos convey the feeling of that trip, with its sometimes claustrophobic aspects: the landscape revealed through the window of a vehicle, or gaping open under the blinding sun. The book recreates this narrative, moving from aesthetic visions of dim interiors and bodies in camouflage to open horizons full of light, but also rife with conflict.