Women of Afghanistan: Portraits of Spirt and Strength

Описание: Peggy Kelsey is one of Photodex's featured photographers. She created this slideshow using ProShow Gold. For more information on ProShow, please visit http://www.photodex.com.

The first significant time Peggy spent outside the United States was during her junior year in college which she spent in Iran as part of an exchange program at Pahlavi University. That summer she traveled alone in India for two months and passed through Afghanistan on the way home. Over three decades later, she returned.

Having turned a hobby of Photography into a wedding and portrait business, Peggy branched out into documentary travel photography when she and her family spent two years upcountry in Mozambique in the late 90's.

Returning to Austin, Texas, She was inspired to begin the Afghan Women's Project after meeting with a delegation of Afghan women who passed through Austin in the fall of '02. In contrast to the media image of Afghan women as downtrodden and victimized, Peggy found these women she encountered to be vibrant and full of life, in spite of the difficulties they had been through. At that moment, she resolved to go to Afghanistan to photograph and interview women, seeking out their sources of strength and resilience. She spent 6 weeks there in the fall of 2003 and returned with 40 interviews, of which 21 are made into an exhibit that tours the country. In addition, Peggy has developed two slide shows which talk about some of the remarkable women she met as well as give the viewer a sense of Afghanistan.

Utilizing the skills she developed in Afghanistan, Peggy now travels around the country offering the opportunity to be photographed and interviewed via Real Voices. Clients receive a folio with a portrait of their choice, facing an excerpt from the interview as well as a CD with the entire interview. See www.kelseys.net for more details.