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Beyond Bullets: A Photo Journal of Afghanistan

by Rafal Gerszak with Dawn Hunter

In 2008, Vancouver photographer Rafal Gerszak travelled to Afghanistan to be embedded with an American military unit. He ended up living with the soldiers for a year, snapping pictures during house searches, disputes with village elders, and in the aftermath of battles.

Upon his return to Canada, Gerszak was restless, feeling he’d missed something in Afghanistan despite his long stay. So he soon returned, this time as an unaffiliated photographer with no military escort, determined to get to know more about the ordinary Afghanis he’d seen from armoured transports and helicopters.

Beyond Bullets features images from both trips to Afghanistan, accompanied by Gerszak’s notes and diary-like accounts of his travels. It makes for a fascinating and occasionally difficult read – Gerszak does not hide his feelings about the situation he witnesses: “It’s a muddled, neverending cycle. All these impossible-to-enforce rules, all this troubled warfare, and so much money involved. It’s a mess.” In the embedded half of the book, we encounter the image of a shell-shocked soldier who would later commit suicide. In the unembedded half, we see a shepherd who had his leg blown off by a mine; we also see a would-be suicide bomber (who bowed out at the very last moment) in jail, head in hands.

Gerszak’s images are powerful, and never come close to romanticizing war. The overall impression one gets is that this war (and maybe all wars) are defined less by impressive displays of firepower than by the many people, on both sides of the conflict, who are left wandering, dazed, in its brutal wake.

Gerszak’s images and words are haunting, but the book itself is a little muddled. More care could’ve been taken to contextualize some of the images and situations. Though information is given throughout on, for example, the history of the Taliban, Muslim traditions, the contested meaning of “jihad,” and the role of private security contractors, it would be difficult for a younger reader to get a grip on the complexities of the Afghan conflict from this book alone. For one thing, it is not really made clear why the current war is even happening. (To be fair, however, that’s a question some of the military and political leaders in charge of the mission don’t appear to have an answer for, either.)

 

Reviewer: Nathan Whitlock

Publisher: Annick Press

DETAILS

Price: $19.95

Page Count: 128 pp

Format: Cloth

ISBN: 978-1-55451-293-5

Released: Sept.

Issue Date: 2011-7

Categories: Children and YA Non-fiction

Age Range: 12+

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