Photo Exhibition ‘On the Ground’, Featuring Images of Afghanistan, Darfur Conflicts, Opens at Headquarters, 6 July

Two conflicts, two peace operations and two particular ways to photograph the communities they serve.

A joint photographic exhibition titled On the Ground: UN Peace Operations in Afghanistan and Darfur opens at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, 6 July in the Main Gallery of the Visitors’ Lobby. A collaborative effort between the United Nations Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and the African Union–United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID), it seeks to represent the lives of people in two places plagued by years of devastating conflict. When combined into a single exhibition, the body of work conveys a message of human triumph and resilience in the face of adversity and chaos.

Afghanistan: Everyday in the Midst of Conflict consists of images by UNAMA photographers Eric Kanalstein and Fardin Waezi, who focused their lenses on the everyday challenges Afghans face in rebuilding their lives, homes and villages. Each image is a reflection of the daily struggle for survival encountered by Afghan women, children and men. The exhibition is meant to bring the viewer closer to the realities of life and to portray the transcendent human qualities that can never be bound by culture or geography.

In Darfur up Close, UNAMID photographer Albert González Farran guides the visitor through an emotive and inspiring journey with a view to the many different angles of Darfur, a part of Sudan that has endured conflict for eight years. The exhibition focuses on the more than 2 million displaced persons living in camps, efforts to protect and assist them, the catastrophic effects of violence on the population and the work of the peacekeepers deployed as part of UNAMID, as well as other political and social events.

The exhibition is sponsored by UNAMA and UNAMID, in collaboration with the Departments of Field Support, Peacekeeping Operations and Public Information.

Find out about peacekeeping at un.org/peacekeeping