Photography

As part of her research, Isobel Coleman regularly travels to the Middle East, South Asia and Africa. Here are photographs from some of those trips.

FOCUS ON Afghanistan

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  • This is Sakena Yacoobi's main office in Kabul, Afghanistan
  • A government sponsored micro business for women in Kabul
  • An Afghan Institute of Learning health clinic north of Kabul
  • The ruined shell of Darulaman Palace on the outskirts of Kabul. The palace was built in the 1920s by the doomed reformer, King Amanullah
  • The 2008 construction of the largest Shia mosque in Kabul, funded by Iranian money
  • Sakena Yacoobi teaching women in Kabul
  • A local farmer selling grapes along the road north of Kabul
  • Burqa-clad women waiting in line at a rural health clinic
  • Nooria Nuri, a midwife trained by the Afghan Institute of Learning
  • Young girls attending a mosque-based school near Bamian to learn to read and write
  • A poster used by the Afghan Institute of Learning to teach rural women about family planning/birth control
  • A farmer selling his onions and potatoes on the side of the road in Kabul
  • Children in a typical rural village
  • Women waiting in a health clinic
  • An ob-gyn room for women in rural Afghanistan
  • New construction pushing up the hillsides around Kabul
  • Women with their children waiting to see a health worker at an Afghan Institute of Learning clinic. On the walls around them are messages and posters about family planning
  • A playground at an Afghan Institute of Learning nursery school in Kabul
  • Sakena Yacoobi with midwife Nooria Nuri in an AIL clinic
  • Nilofar Sakhi, founder of WASSA, in Afghanistan
  • Shukria Barakzai, member of parliament, and Asma Nassery, UN Advisor, in Afghanistan's parliament, 2008
  • Afghanistan's parliament building
  • Safia Siddiqui, member of Parliament and poetess

Afghan photographs taken during various trips over the years, dating back to 2002.

FOCUS ON Iran

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  • Mosaic detail from Golestan Palace, the oldest historic monument in Tehran, used for royal functions during the Pahlavi Dynasty
  • The shop workroom in Al Zahra University, a women's university in Tehran where Zahra Rahnavard was Chancellor
  • Spirces for sale in Tehran's old bazaar
  • Northern Tehran with the Alborz Mountains in the background
  • A science lab at Al Zahra University for women
  • The bazaar in Tehran
  • Female students on a break at Al Zahra University
  • Women in an art class in Al Zahra University
  • The HIV prevention poster that greets arrivals at the Tehran airport
  • Women using tools in a shop class at Al Zahra University
  • New buildings and construction in downtown Tehran
  • Minaret in Tehran
  • Monir Amadi Qomi, director of the Institute for Women's Studies and Research (IWSR)
  • Massoumeh Ebtekar in her office in Tehran
  • Monir Amadi Qomi and I in the garden of the Institute for Women's Studies and Research in northern Tehran

Iran photographs taken during two week visit in 2008

FOCUS ON Saudi Arabia

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  • Madawi and I in her salon in Jeddah
  • Dr. Haifa Jamal al-Lail, dean of Effat University, in her office
  • Entrance to Effat College (2006) before it became a university
  • Sophia bin Zagr in her remarkable art gallery in Jeddah
  • Madawi al-Hassoon being interviewed at the Jeddah Economic Forum, 2008
  • Journalist Sabria al-Jawhar in Jeddah, 2005

Saudi photographs taken during multiple trips to the Kingdom

FOCUS ON Pakistan

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  • Nigar Ahmad, founder of Aurat Foundation, at her home in Lahore, 2008
  • Minarets in Lahore
  • Bazaar in Lahore
  • Minarets at dusk of the Red Fort, Lahore
  • A local merchant enjoying his hookah while selling tobacco
  • One of Pakistan's many decorated buses. Trucks and motorized rickshaws are also vividly dressed by their owners
  • Kashf client Nasreen Parveen and her son Adil
  • Nasreen Parveen in her store on the outskirts of Lahore
  • A crowd gathers around Nasreen Parveen's shop
  • Nasreen Parveen and her customers in Lahore
  • Visiting the shop of Nasreen Parveen, a Kashf microfinance client, Lahore
  • Sadaffe Abid, former COO of Kashf, and staff in Lahore
  • A Kashf client who used her micro loan to buy a motorized rickshaw that she operates with her husband (he drives)
  • A sidewalk vendor selling kindling wood
  • A selection of hookas (water pipes) and tobacco for sale

Pakistan photos taken during various trips