The "Faces of Afghanistan" photography exhibit, which runs until Oct. 31 in the James M. Johnston Center for Undergraduate Excellence, seeks to remedy that misconception.
"I wanted people to see a different face of Afghanistan," said Ray Buchanan, whose photographic portraits are featured in the exhibit. Buchanan's portraits show Afghan people both young and old, the brilliant colors of their traditional garments drastically contrasting the stark, snowy mountains behind them.
"Afghans are known as being fierce people -- and they are in that they are fighters -- but at the same time they're very warm and hospitable," Buchanan said.
"(Buchanan's) pictures are an incredible and rare glimpse of very traditional Afghanistani culture," said Randi Davenport, associate director of the Johnston Center.
Buchanan, a minister and director of Raleigh-based relief organization Stop Hunger Now, took the photographs over two visits to the northern region of Afghanistan in October 2001.
"I was in Afghanistan to assess the situation and monitor the relief work that my organization was doing," Buchanan said. "On these trips I always take lots of pictures, but I never intended for them to be displayed publicly."
Before Sept. 11, many Americans knew nothing about Afghanistan and its people, but in the wake of the attacks interest in the region and in Buchanan's haunting portraits grew tremendously. After the photos were exhibited several times in Raleigh, they garnered the attention of the Johnston Center and its staff.
"We knew lots of people here (at UNC) would be interested in the exhibit and could use them in their classes," Davenport said. She added that the exhibit also was intended to be a resource for the freshman reading assignment, "Approaching the Qur'
