Category: Photo Stories

Mubashir Hassan: The forgotten future of Kashmir

Photo Stories

Photos & text by Mubashir Hassan

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 07-scaled.jpg
©Mubashir Hassan

Kashmir in the last 30 years has been reduced to a land of pain and misery with thousands dead, disappeared, raped, detained and tortured. When an anti-India insurgency began in 1989, the mighty forces that India employed here crushed the rebellion. Since then more than 90,000 people have died and 8,000are disappeared.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 02-1024x683.jpg
©Mubashir Hassan

The ongoing conflict mounted scars not only on the adults but the new generation. The young children’s were badly affected with hundreds killed, thousands blinded, amputated bodies, and detained in Indian jails.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 005-scaled.jpg
©Mubashir Hassan

With more than half a million Indian troops stationed, Kashmir has the distinction of being the most heavily militarized zone in the world. The Indian forces enjoy special powers under laws such as the Armed Forces special Powers Act (AFSPA) that gives them immunity and impunity to arrest or kill anyone on mere suspicion, without the fear of facing legal action.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 06-1024x683.jpg
©Mubashir Hassan

The turmoil has devastated an entire generation. People have gone through worst in these turbulent times. The story is all about the Children’s who are the Future of Kashmir and a yearning of new generation to live a life of peace and dignity.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 003-3-1024x681.jpg
©Mubashir Hassan

The images shot by me are somehow my own childhood experiences, as I grew in such condition seeing things periodically right from the time when rebellion broke out in Kashmir.

Mubashir Hassan
Mubashir Hassan is a freelance photojournalist based in Kashmir valley, India. For the past six year, Mubashir has covered many stories on politics, conflict, human rights violations, as well as day to day life, art, culture and architecture. He is available for assignments.

On the project
‘Children: The forgotten future of Kashmir’ is an ongoing project by photojournalist Mubashir Hassan that focuses on the children living under the conflicted area of Kashmir valley. It documents the impact that the conflict has on their lives; from being physically maimed, psychologically traumatised and deprived of a future. ‘Children: The forgotten future of Kashmir’ is a personal project. It is an important story that needs to be seen and told. If you would like to support Mubashir, please be in touch with him. He is looking for commissions, representation and/or donations, which albeit small would make a huge difference for him. You can get in touch with Mubashir directly on:

Mubashir Hassan
T: +91-   9622663411
E: mubashirhassanpj@gmail.com
Insta: mubashirhassan_images

Quintina Valero: Life after Chernobyl

Featured photographers

Quintina Valero

In April 2015 I travelled to Ukraine to document the long-lasting implications of Chernobyl’s nuclear disaster for both the environment and the people 30 years after the disaster. The Chernobyl’s accident seems to have been forgotten by society. I wanted to give a voice to the lives of those carrying on with the poisonous legacy of Chernobyl. In my first trip, I visited the 30 km exclusion zone where around 200 people are still living. For my research I interviewed doctors working at the National Institute Cancer Research in Ukraine, NGOs working with victims of Chernobyl and scientists who are studying the DNA modifications both in plants and human beings. I become very interested in remote areas, which are still contaminated by radiation and where people have limited access to hospitals and doctors.

“Life after Chernobyl” portrays life both inside the 30 Km exclusion zone and Narodichi region, 50 km  southwest of the nuclear plant. This turned out to be one of the worst hit areas by radiation but only detected five years later. With my collective “Food of war” we are helping to raise awareness of the Chernobyl’s accident through European exhibitions, talks and conferences. We have also collaborated with artists reflecting on the consumption of food in countries where radiation travelled after the 1986’s accident. Life after Chernobyl is an ongoing project that I would like to develop into a book and a short film.

To know more or would like to support this ongoing project, please follow this link: 

Natalia, school’s teacher stands by the entrance of Maksimovichy village, where many houses were abandoned after Chernobyl’s disaster.
Nastia Natsik with her daughters Iuliana, Madina and Lia in her family house in Khristinovka. Lia, 2 suffers from a brain tumour. Her father,Emil, 37, fled the conflict in Abkhazia (Geogia) when he was eleven, 3 years after Chernobyl’s disaster. Though evacuation was enforced in 1992, many families decided to stay.
Tatiana Ignatiuk in her kitchen in Maksimovichy, where she lives with her three children and husband who works in the forest.
Anna is holding apples from her tree. She lives in the evacuated village of Copachichi in the 30km exclusion zone of Chernobyl.
Dima, 6 years old is waiting to be seen by Alexander and Daniel, two volunteer doctors from Kiev. About 60% of children in Narodichi region suffer from malnutrition alongside cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. Children are no longer considered victims of Chernobyl. Ignored by the authorities, many of those children rely on local NGOs and international aid organisations for medical treatment.

Quintina Valero
https://www.quintinavalero.com
@QuintinaV
#quintinavalero/

Gueules Gazées

Photo Stories

By Roberto di Mola 

Gueules Gazées is an ongoing documentary series showing the effects of tear gas among
protestors. Grins, runny noses and burning eyes are just the visible effects. According to a study published by the French association of toxicology-chemistry the aftermaths of exposure could be serious and permanent damages might be caused to the nervous system, to the breathing apparatus
and to the sight. Moreover it certifies the presence of small amounts of cyanide potentially
toxic in case of long exposures.

Gueules Gazées tries not only to underline direct consequences of potentially lethal
weapons used against civilians, but it also aims to show people’s strategies to relieve pain
and provide first aid to those affected by the gas. Heavily armed police, LBD, tear gas: are there any other more peaceful means to provide security and safeness in public order policing?

Instagram: #mirai.mir

Paris, June 2020. Milk is often used to alleviate burns that reach the eyes. Here, after
the passage of the demonstrators, milk flows on the street.
Paris, June 2020. A protester makes a grimace of pain.
Paris, June 2020. A protester sprays his face with milk.
Paris, June 2020. A demonstrator receives assistance.
Paris, July 2020. A typical riot police squad: one of them is holding a LBD gun. The
majority of serious injuries are caused by the reckless use of this weapon.
Paris, June 2020. A Parisian café after being attacked with tear gas.
Paris, June 2020. A man trying to get out from the café after the attack.
Paris, June 2020. More and more protesters, aware of the effects, equip themselves with the necessary to provide first aid.

Paris, June 2020.In this case an umbrella is used to better protect themselves from
“toxic winds”.

Paris, July 2020. Another technique is used to curl up against the wind.

Photographs by Roberto di Mola
Instagram: #mirai.mir