Josephine Powell was an American photographer, traveler, and a collector of Anatolian ethnographic objects and textiles. Josephine Powell: Photographs of Afghanistan 1959-68 was published in conjunction with the exhibition ‘Josephine Powell, Photographs of Afghanistan’. The exhibition was visited by more than 28,800 people during its two-month display in Kabul, reflecting the deep interest of the Afghan public in the historic sites, natural landscapes, and ethnographic sceneries depicted in her photographs. 

This catalogue contains a selection of photographs of Afghanistan, sourced from the Josephine Powell photographic archives held in the Special Collections at the Fine Arts Library, Harvard University. Printed on the occasion of a public exhibition of Josephine Powell’s work at the historic Babur’s Garden in Kabul, the publication has been prepared by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture with support from the Royal Norwegian Embassy provided through the Afghan Cultural Initiative.

This edition contains both English and Dari text.

Essays by Riedlmayer, András J., Nancy Hatch Dupree, and Simon Norfolk

Josephine Powell: Photographs of Afghanistan 1959-68. Kabul: Aga Khan Trust for Culture Afghanistan, 2017.

Aga Khan Trust for Culture and authors