Afghanistan, 2006-2010

Afghanistan, 2006-2010

Louie Palu

Between 2006 and 2010, Louie Palu made several visits to Afghanistan, the country where the US-led coalition was deployed in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. The year of his first visit was marked by a reorganisation of the Taliban and the launch of a major military offensive. In response, the George W. Bush administration ordered special, punctual deployments of troops to Afghanistan. Thousands of additional troops were sent by the US, but also by Canada, to fight the Taliban with the Afghan National Army.
During his travels, Louie Palu has produced several photographic series in which he documents different aspects of this troubled country. In black and white or in colour, the photographs he has produced are all ways of bearing witness to the conflict in Afghanistan at the end of the decade. Louie Palu is both the author of portraits, images documenting the daily life of soldiers and war medical services and images based more on his feelings. He develops an approach and a sensitive eye that takes some of the images beyond the documentary. One of the major issues underlying his work is the apprehension of the direct consequences of war on populations and territories.

Void of war, 2009-2010

This body of work was made with a toy panoramic camera and black and white film. As digital phone cameras and satellite technology made images from the war seen almost instantaneously I wanted to slow down how I made and understood what I was witnessing. These images are more about the relationship of the land to the people and both to the current war in light of Afghanistan’s legacy and history. The camera was slow, had many imperfections, sometimes scratching or marking the film. Because it was film, it was not used to produce images for the news, but more of one based on my imagination in which I would document something and not see the work for months until I got home and processed the film. The resulting work is named after artwork by British artist Paul Nash who made work around how war changed the landscape and the relationship war has with nature.

Fighting Season I, 2007-2010

These photographs were taken in Kandahar during the rise of the Taliban lead insurgency and the U.S. military surge focused on Kandahar. In the summer, the heavily vegetated landscapes of the region become the front line where some of the most violent and bitter fighting takes place during what many in Afghanistan call “The Fighting Season”. I specifically focused on taking photographs of the conflict in Kandahar, which was the birthplace of the country, the Taliban and planning of 9/11. As the insurgency grew, I spent most of my time in the districts west of Kandahar City. Kandahar has been the scene of numerous battles over centuries with little visual documentation until this post 9/11 war.
I spent time with Afghan, U.S. and Canadian troops and also focused on medics who collected casualties. I worked to create a sequence of images that examine what the front line of an insurgency looks like in this war, at this particular time. I was also very interested in the ever presence of nature and combatants interaction with the environment as part of the experience of war. Some of the first visuals of war I saw were paintings from the First World War including works by Frederick Varley and Paul Nash.
I wanted to use color and light in a manner for what I hoped would turn into a contemporary photographic interpretation of war, which for me became a disturbing and terrible beauty. My ultimate goal was to create a body of work which was not only a document but a universal portrait of war.

Garmsir Marines, 2008

These U.S. Marines operated in Garmsir, Helmand Province, where some of the most intense fighting of the year 2008 took place. This area is also known as the “Snakes Head”, due to the shape that the land and bases make in this region when seen from the air. This unit was supposed to be a one-time, short-term special deployment of troops ordered to Afghanistan, by President George W. Bush in 2007, but became the beginning of an escalation of U.S. troops being deployed to the war in 2008. Now we are seeing that this was the beginning of what is now a surge under the new US Administration of thousands of more troops being deployed to the war. These photographs were taken in the final weeks of this units operation and time in Afghanistan. The average age of these Marines is between 21-years of age. This particular group of Marines were from the unit 1/6 who is based in North Carolina. The unit was created and first deployed to France in the First World War to fight in the Battle of Beallau Wood near the Marne River in 1918.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Fighting Season II, 2007-2010

ARCHIVES CONTACT