National Geographic and Afghan Girl
No cover is more famous than the one from June 1985 bearing the portrait and piercing green-eyed gaze of “Afghan Girl”. CNN called it the “world’s most famous photograph”. Read on to learn her story.
National Geographic magazine, published continuously since 1888, was launched by the newly established National Geographic Society with a purpose “to increase and diffuse geographic knowledge”.
In 1898 Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone, took the helm as Society President and was governed by a board of trustees whose members included distinguished educators, business executives, former government officials, explorers and conservationists – mostly older white men, with lots of facial hair, it has to be said.
The National Geographic Society has become a multi-platform cultural staple and a global icon, but its flagship magazine remains its crowning achievement.
The magazine is well known for its distinctive appearance: a thick square-bound glossy format with a yellow rectangular border. Many of us would have grown up seeing that telltale bank of yellow spines on a bookshelf. National Geographic was a collectable keeper [Ed: … just like REMORANDOM aspires to be].
No cover is more famous than the one from June 1985 bearing the portrait and piercing green-eyed gaze of “Afghan Girl” (later identified as Sharbat Gula), shot by photographer Steve McCurry near the Pakistani city of Peshawar. Gula, an ethnic Pashtun from Afghanistan’s Nangarhar Province, was a 12-year-old child then residing in Pakistan’s Nasir Bagh.
Gula’s image became “emblematic” as the “refugee girl/woman located in some distant camp” who was deserving of compassion from the Western viewer, and also as a symbol of Afghanistan to the West. CNN called it the “world’s most famous photograph”.
Gula’s identity remained a mystery for 18 years. McCurry made several unsuccessful attempts during the 1990s to find and identify her. Then, in January 2002, a National Geographic team traveled to Afghanistan. They eventually found Gula, then around age 30, in a remote region of Afghanistan. She had returned to her native country from the refugee camp in 1992. Her identity was confirmed using iris recognition. She had never seen the photo and was oblivious to her worldwide fame as Afghan Girl until the image was shown to her in 2002.
The image is indeed iconic. Posting for PetaPixel in 2016, Allen Murabayashi, the co-founder of a digital asset management service for photographers, writes:
“Afghan Girl is so ingrained in popular memory that I’ve seen it used multiple times as a Halloween costume. I can’t think of another photo that has reached that threshold.”
Having found Gula, National Geographic covered the costs of medical treatment for her family and a pilgrimage to Mecca. They also established the Afghan Girls Fund, a charitable organisation with the goal of educating Afghan girls and young women.
Following the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban in 2021, Gula’s global fame and prominence put her in danger. She sought assistance to leave the country, and was evacuated to Italy with the support of its government, in response to appeals from nonprofit organisations. Even so, the story of Afghan Girl is not without its critics.
Was it invasive and exploitative? Maybe. What do you think?
Story Idea: Melanie Giuffré
REMORANDOM Book Chapter
Great story, but you might like to check - Bell didn’t invent the phone. He patented it
Was it invasive and exploitative? Exploit me now!