In 1984, 12-year-old Afghan girl Sharbat Gula left behind this iconic image at a makeshift school in the Nasir Bagh refugee camp in Pakistan. Her uncertain future and the firm will to survive made this photo, which appeared on the cover of National Geographic in June 1985 and was hailed as the “Mona Lisa of Afghanistan”.
Gula became a symbol of the global refugee crisis, and her image raised awareness about the suffering of women and children in war. However, Gula remained unknown after this photograph until 2002, when the National Geographic team, along with the photographer Steve McCurry who took the original picture, returned to Afghanistan to find her. They eventually located the now-grown Gula in a remote area, and her identity was confirmed through iris recognition technology. The story of their reunion was documented in the National Geographic cover story in April 2002 and also turned into the documentary Searching for the Afghan Girl.
Steve McCurry, an American photographer renowned for his deeply humanistic documentary work, has focused on the losses caused by war to both people and the natural environment. Against the backdrop of a century of changes in global women's rights, McCurry's ‘Afghan Girl” offers a unique perspective on the impact of war on women and their resilience and strength in adversity. This photo reminds us that the experiences of women in conflict deserve to be seen and understood, urging us to reflect on how we can create safer and more equitable environments for them.
