Zakhem | Wounds: When War Comes Home

In 2018, photographer Giulio Piscitelli visited EMERGENCY’s Surgical Centres in Kabul and Lashkar-Gah, Afghanistan.

There he met war victims who continue to face public indifference after 18 years of conflict and vowed to tell their stories: stories where violence punctures daily life without warning, stories that reveal the wounds – zakhem in Dari – left by the conflict.

Shell and shrapnel wounds take centre stage in the exhibition because ultimately, war begins with them, but deeper wounds are also revealed here – like the fear and exasperation that never leave those living in the midst of violence.

Piscitelli’s photos show the Afghan people’s enduring strength and transport you into a world that is illuminated, almost unreal – a world outside time and space. The true nature of war is that it is everywhere and never-ending and Piscitelli's work has made these wounds comprehensible, simple, powerful and eloquent.