Photography by Lida Hamid

Location: Büyük Valide Han

September 14th – 28th

daily – 1:00 pm – 7:00 pm

Bare floors, no desks, no chairs, just determination. These children remove their shoes and sit on the cold classroom floor, writing with focus and hope, proving that the will to learn is stronger than the hardships they face and under the current restrictions in Afghanistan, girls are once again forbidden from attending.

Lida Hamid did photos of a school and its current conditions in Afghanistan at Amir Dost Muhammad Khan School, located in Kabul. The school is named after a prominent 19th-century Afghan leader and founder of the Barakzai dynasty. Amir Dost Muhammad Khan played a key role in unifying Afghanistan during a time of political fragmentation and foreign intervention.

The students at this school today sit on the floor during class because they don’t have chairs or tables to use, making it difficult for them to have a comfortable and productive learning experience.

After the fall of the first Taliban regime in the late 1990s, the residence was converted into a secondary school following an educational reform in the early 2000s.

Lida Hamid was awarded several prizes for capturing stories that reflect Afghan culture and heritage. Since the Taliban’s return to power, restrictions on freedom of expression and limitations on photographing certain subjects — especially women and cultural events — have made it much harder to work as she once did.

Despite these challenges, her work continues to reflect resilience, culture, and the human stories that inspire her to document Afghan life, especially those of women and marginalized communities.

Lida Hamid participates also into the panel of Journalism in Exile in the frame of the Mahalla Fetival on September 12th at postane Istanbul.