Faculty of Art
Photography
Zuhra Mohammad Amin
Torn - Afghanistan: My Home
Photography
2023
Digital Photography
Distant memories of what was once home.
“A letter I wrote to Afghanistan when the Taliban took over my country...Dear Afghanistan, to say that my heart aches for you is an understatement. My family fled Afghanistan in 1996 during the civil war when I was just a year old. My parents have always taught me the importance of knowing my background and where I came from so I went to Afghanistan for the “first” time when I was in middle school. I went again in 2016 and in 2017. I’m not much of a traveller but all I wanted to do was travel to Afghanistan. If you’re a close friend of mine, you know that I talk about going back home all the time. I may have no recollection of the war and can’t fathom what my fellow Afghans are feeling right now but I can say this...Today, my home is burning. The past few days have caused anger, pain, fear and sadness for every Afghan. My parents don’t watch anything else on television except the news. They look at the women who grabbed whatever they could find in short notice and holding their children close to their chest. They look at the men who are trying to find anything they can to keep their family alive and finding a way out of there. They look at the children crying of fear. They try to be strong but I know that when they watch the horrific events happening in Afghanistan today, that it brings back memories of the day they left their homeland. The Taliban was the cause of my family fleeing Afghanistan and absolutely nothing has changed since 1996. History is clearly repeating itself because as of August 15, 2021, Afghanistan is officially under Taliban rule.My mom's entire family lives in Mazar-i-Sharif and seeing her with fear in her eyes every day is absolutely heartbreaking. When her mom calls her first thing in the morning and before she goes to bed, my mom makes sure that she sounds hopeful and strong over the phone but it's a different story when she hangs up. To think that every phone call will include bad news about your family, is a pain that I don't wish on anyone.To my fellow Afghans, please check up on each other because we are not okay. To those of us who survived, some people will say that we are the "lucky" ones as we escaped the war more than 20 years ago but we can't help but feel guilty about this. We feel useless watching our people suffer while we are safe and sound at home.Once again, I can't say that I have ever come close to what my family went through and what the people of Afghanistan are going through today. I will state however that the people of Afghanistan who have experienced this and are still experiencing this to this day are the strongest people in the world and will overcome this. To my home and to the people of Afghanistan who are fighting for their freedom, this is for you. My heart will always and forever be with you.”
Work by
Zuhra Mohammad Amin
Photography
“Zuhra Mohammad Amin is a Toronto-based visual artist who has extensive experience in lifestyle and wedding photography. Her passion in capturing people in their natural and candid state inspired her...” [More]
Celebrate the work of OCAD U’s class of 2022/2023!