Photographers occasionally share the same lot as literary translators – people know their work, but not their names. Massoud Hossaini, for instance, has had his photos emblazoned across the front pages of international newspapers in Hong Kong, New York, and Germany. The 28-year-old Kabul native works in the Afghan capital as photographer for the AFP news agency.
The path he has taken, however, has been anything other than a simple one. Photography was forbidden under the Taliban, and college-level courses in photography were not – nor are they now – offered in Afghanistan.
Many of Hossaini's photographs show scenes of everyday life. According to Hossaini, these aspects of Afghanistan are almost completely ignored by the Western media
"What is so fascinating about my work is that within a single day I can portray the lives of simple people and also capture official political events"
Waisenhaus in Kabul. 2004
clipped from: www.qantara.de 
