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#HelpAfghanistanNow

A mural on a wall depicting a young Afghani woman holding a book is painted over with black paint by a man with a gun.

Badiucao

16 August 2021

In the days after the Taliban took Afghanistan, this image underlines the immediate and growing concern over human rights and particularly the rights of women and girls. Based on a real scene, captured by a photographer, of men painting over billboards in a Kabul street, Badiucao makes it more poignant with the addition of a young schoolgirl and her book — a striking statement on those fears, both present and future.

- Karen Middleton, guest curator