Noriko Hayashi Photo Exhibition
In the Ashes, She Blooms — Portraits of Afghan Women Presented by Sony World Photography Awards

In Afghanistan, flowers have long been depicted in art and poetry as symbols of fragility, transience, and life itself. The Persian word for flower, gul, is also used as a girl's name, carrying within it a profound reverence for both natural and spiritual beauty.

Since the Taliban seized power in 2021, women's participation in society has been severely restricted, and their access to higher education has been banned. The only exception that had been allowed—midwifery education—was also suspended at the end of 2024.

And yet, while their presence in the outside world is hidden beneath veils, stepping into women's living spaces revealed a stark contrast: walls, cushions, even window ledges were covered in floral patterns filled with vibrant colours. In 2023, I travelled across Afghanistan carrying a floral cloth that one woman from a remote village in Badakhshan province had once used as a bedsheet to record women's voices and to photograph their portraits against that fabric as a backdrop.

Even amidst unending wars and an age of enforced silence, the Afghan women I met faced their lives with quiet resistance in the depths of their hearts. They reconciled with reality while holding onto the inner belief that, even in small ways, change was possible. Their presence was like a flower that blooms unceasingly, never withering, even in the ashes.

Noriko Hayashi