This Afghan woman became famous thanks to photographer Steve McCurry, who took a picture of her face when she was still a little girl. This happened during the Soviet-Afghan war, when Gula was in a refugee camp on the border with Pakistan.
She was born approximately in 1972. Why such an approximate date? You can find out about this and about who the Afghan girl with green eyes is about the events regarding Afghanistan in the late 70s and early 80s in this article.
About photography
The photo that the people got the name "Afghan Girl" is very famous. She is sometimes compared to the portrait of the famous Mona Lisa by the artist Leonardo da Vinci, and therefore she is often called the "Afghan Mona Lisa".
A photo of a mysterious girl with a surprisingly piercing gaze of unusual green eyes has long been an object of close attention of the whole society.
What is the Afghan girl thinking with the photo about? What is in her eyes? Perplexity, fear or anger? Looking at the face of this girl, each time you can discover something new for yourself. This is the secret to the popularity of photography. The girl’s face always remains in the memory of people who saw her, because it carries ambiguity.
She became a kind of symbol of the Afghan refugee problem. McCurry himself said that over the past 17 years there was practically no day when he would not receive any electronic message, letter, etc., about his work. Many wanted to help this girl, send money or adopt. There were those who wanted to marry her.
The image was replicated and published a lot: on postcards, posters, magazines, etc. Most major publications used photos on the covers of their magazines. Even on T-shirts there were prints with her image.
Afghan girl Sharbat Gula: biography, the meaning of the name
Much has been written about the story of the girl. By nationality, Sharbat is Afghan (Pashtunka). She does not know her exact birthday, like that of the year, because the baby has remained an orphan. After her family died, she ended up in the Pakistan Nasir Bagh Refugee Camp. Since then, she never learned to read, but she knows how to write her name.
An Afghan girl married in the late 1980s a simple baker, Ramat Gul, and returned with her family in 1992 to her homeland in Afghanistan. In total, Sharbat now has 3 daughters: Robina, Aliya and Zahida. There was a 4th daughter, but she died shortly after birth. A woman hopes that her children, in comparison with her, will receive a good education, learn to read and write. Sharbat herself had no opportunities for this. She is now over 40 years old.
This woman never even suspected how famous she had become, how much was written about her piercing gaze. However, according to her stories, it was remembered how some white man photographed her. She never starred in her life, especially a year after that famous shooting, she began to wear a veil.
The name of the Afghan girl (Sharbat Gula) in translation means "flower sorbet."
A bit about the author of the photo
This photo was taken by a renowned professional, journalist and photographer Steve McCurry at a refugee camp in Pakistan (Nasir Bagh).
In 1984, Steve McCurry (National Geographic), together with Debra Denker, collected material on the Soviet-Afghan war. Having penetrated into Afghanistan, they visited refugee camps, of which there were a great many on the Afghan-Pakistani border. The photographer intended to reflect the situation of refugees in terms of women and children.
In 1985, the cover of one of the magazines (National Geographic) featured a 13-year-old Afghan girl with green eyes.
History of photography
One morning, photographer McCurry, walking through the Nasir Bagh camp, saw a tent in which there was a school. He asked the teacher for permission to photograph several students (there were only about 20). She allowed.
His attention was drawn to the gaze of one girl. He asked the teacher about her. She said that the girl with the remaining relatives traveled several weeks through the mountains after helicopter shelling of their village. Naturally, the baby was difficult to survive this situation, because she lost the people closest to her.
McCurry made a portrait of the Afghan girl Gula (she did not recognize her name then) on a color film, and without additional lighting.
This "photo shoot" took only a couple of minutes. And only after returning to Washington, McCurry realized what an amazing shot he took. Preparation of the photo (prepress) was done by the artistic agent of Georgia (Marietta).
The photo was so emotional and difficult to view that the National Geographic photo editor at first did not want to use it, but in the end put it on the cover of this magazine with the caption “Afghan Girl”.
Sharbat life today
For a long time the fate of the heroine of the famous picture remained unknown. After McCurry again, after a long search, found her in 2002, something became clear about how her difficult fate happened.
The life of Sharbat is rather complicated. She married at 13 years old (according to her recollections, and her husband believes that at 16). Every day before sunrise and after sunset she always prays. Daily engaged in ordinary household chores: carries water from a stream, washes, prepares food, takes care of his children. The meaning of her whole life is children.
Her husband, Rakhmat Gul, lives mainly in Peshevan, where there is a bakery in which he makes a little money.
There is still a serious health problem. Sharbat is sick with asthma, and this does not allow her to live in the city. In the mountains, she’s better. She lives with her family in the most warlike tribe (Pashtuns), which at one time formed the backbone of the Taliban.
Afghan girl about herself and about those events
In 2002, led by Steve McCurry, a team was organized by National Geographic magazine specifically for the searches for that girl (before that, certain searches had also been undertaken).
And so, soon a new picture was taken, but Sharbat had already matured: in a long robe, a female cloak and with a raised veil (with the permission of her husband). And again, the lens captured the eyes of an Afghan girl, but already matured.
In her opinion, she survived by God's will. She believes that her family lived better under the Taliban than under numerous bombings.
She also says that Americans are breaking their lives, just as the Russians once broke. People, in her opinion, are tired of wars, invasions and blood loss. As soon as the country has a new leader, the people of Afghanistan gain hope for the best, bright, but each time they are deceived and disappointed.
Sharbat also expressed dissatisfaction with her childhood photograph: you see, they shot her in a shawl with a hole, which she still remembers as she burned her over the stove.
Conclusion
The beautiful face of the girl with her bewitching gaze speaks of hidden excitement at the same time as determination, unwaveringness and dignity. Although it can be seen that it is poor, there is genuine nobility and strength in it. And most importantly, in her eyes you can see the severity of the suffering and torment endured by the simple long-suffering Afghan people.