UPDATE — International Mine Action Day: Portraits by Marco Grob

3 minute read

Updated: April 3, 2013

In honor of the United Nations’ International Day for Mine Awareness, observed every year on April 4, LightBox has updated this gallery with more images from Marco Grob’s ongoing project documenting lives around the globe that have been affected by land mines. Over the course of three years, in collaboration with the United Nations Mine Action Service, Grob has traveled to Afghanistan, Cambodia and, most recently, South Sudan, the newest and one of the most heavily mined countries in the world. The nomadic cattle herding culture of war-torn South Sudan, in east-central Africa, makes the threat of land mines a lethal daily problem. In prior years, Grob made his portraits in a small studio set up on location; this newest series of images features a number of environmental shots that are not necessarily typical of the project. “In South Sudan the landscape was so breathtaking and new to us,” his assistant Tara Rice tells TIME, “that it seemed natural to include it in the photos.” The work, made primarily in the Mundari tribe cattle camps, will be exhibited in Juba, South Sudan, from April 4, and later this year in New York. More information available here.

It costs only about $2 to lay a land mine — but several thousand dollars to dig it out. An average of 52 people each month suffer injury from land mines in Afghanistan alone. To bring attention to the problems — food farmers are unable to plant in contaminated fields; women are unable to access water because surrounding areas are mined; citizens can’t rebuild on land because of the danger of explosion — the U.N. Mine Action Programme of Afghanistan (MAPA), which works to clear 1 million mines and unexploded bombs a year in Afghanistan, approached TIME’s Marco Grob, known best for his portraiture work, to photograph Afghan land-mine victims. The photos commemorate April 4 as International Land Mine Day and are part of an exhibition that goes on view April 7, 2011, in Kabul.

Improvising a studio on a former battlefield near one of the country’s most densely contaminated minefields, Grob and his team found the snow and wind a challenge — forcing them to enlist the aid of one of the U.N. mine clearers, who held a reflector over subjects’ heads to keep the snow off them. When approaching each subject, Grob says, with time to get only four of five exposures, he didn’t want to showcase their injuries. “I choose to concentrate on their faces and the textures of Afghanistan.”

Grob, a former soldier in the Swiss army who was trained in laying mines, says his work is far from over. Funding — which is used to train and employ 14,000 men across Afghanistan, providing livelihoods while cleaning up communities — is the only obstacle to ridding Afghanistan of mines. With donations, Afghanistan could be cleared of mines in years instead of decades. “I hope my work helps to raise awareness,” says Grob, “and will help keep the required money flowing.”

— by Deirdre Van Dyk


Marco Grob is a TIME contractor who takes portraits of people throughout the world. He was commissioned to photograph a portfolio of images for last year’s TIME 100.

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International Mine Action Day: Portraits of Survivors by Marco Grob
Mundari tribe members are especially vulnerable to the threat of land mines and other unexploded ordnance since they move around the country frequently to feed and water their cattle.Marco Grob
International Mine Action Day: Portraits of Survivors by Marco Grob
Mundari tribe members are especially vulnerable to the threat of land mines and other unexploded ordnance since they move around the country frequently to feed and water their cattle.Marco Grob
International Mine Action Day: Portraits of Survivors by Marco Grob
Mundari tribe members are especially vulnerable to the threat of land mines and other unexploded ordnance since they move around the country frequently to feed and water their cattle.Marco Grob
International Mine Action Day: Portraits of Survivors by Marco Grob
Mundari tribe members are especially vulnerable to the threat of land mines and other unexploded ordnance since they move around the country frequently to feed and water their cattle.Marco Grob
International Mine Action Day: Portraits of Survivors by Marco Grob
Mundari tribe members are especially vulnerable to the threat of land mines and other unexploded ordnance since they move around the country frequently to feed and water their cattle.Marco Grob
International Mine Action Day: Portraits of Survivors by Marco Grob
Mundari tribe members. UNMAS (United Nations Mine Action Service) works with SIMAS (Sudan Integrated Mine Actions Service) to provide a mine risk education program to the people of these tribes, helping them identify and report anything suspicious they may find.Marco Grob
International Mine Action Day: Portraits of Survivors by Marco Grob
Mundari tribe members. UNMAS (United Nations Mine Action Service) works with SIMAS (Sudan Integrated Mine Actions Service) to provide a mine risk education program to the people of these tribes, helping them identify and report anything suspicious they may find.Marco Grob
International Mine Action Day: Portraits of Survivors by Marco Grob
Mundari tribe members. UNMAS (United Nations Mine Action Service) works with SIMAS (Sudan Integrated Mine Actions Service) to provide a mine risk education program to the people of these tribes, helping them identify and report anything suspicious they may find.Marco Grob
International Mine Action Day: Portraits of Survivors by Marco Grob
Mundari tribe members. UNMAS (United Nations Mine Action Service) works with SIMAS (Sudan Integrated Mine Actions Service) to provide a mine risk education program to the people of these tribes, helping them identify and report anything suspicious they may find.Marco Grob
International Mine Action Day: Portraits of Survivors by Marco Grob
Mundari tribe members. UNMAS (United Nations Mine Action Service) works with SIMAS (Sudan Integrated Mine Actions Service) to provide a mine risk education program to the people of these tribes, helping them identify and report anything suspicious they may find.Marco Grob
International Mine Action Day: Portraits of Survivors by Marco Grob
Mundari tribe members. UNMAS (United Nations Mine Action Service) works with SIMAS (Sudan Integrated Mine Actions Service) to provide a mine risk education program to the people of these tribes, helping them identify and report anything suspicious they may find.Marco Grob
International Mine Action Day: Portraits of Survivors by Marco Grob
Mundari tribe members. UNMAS (United Nations Mine Action Service) works with SIMAS (Sudan Integrated Mine Actions Service) to provide a mine risk education program to the people of these tribes, helping them identify and report anything suspicious they may find.Marco Grob
International Mine Action Day: Portraits of Survivors by Marco Grob
Mundari tribe members. UNMAS (United Nations Mine Action Service) works with SIMAS (Sudan Integrated Mine Actions Service) to provide a mine risk education program to the people of these tribes, helping them identify and report anything suspicious they may find.Marco Grob
International Mine Action Day: Portraits of Survivors by Marco Grob
Peter Lukabon lost his right leg in a mine accident and is being treated at ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross) in Juba, South Sudan.Marco Grob
International Mine Action Day: Portraits of Survivors by Marco Grob
William Basa was going to his garden behind his house when he stepped on a land mine in May of 2003. He had 12 children, 6 have passed away. He struggles now with moving around and dealing with day to day tasks because of his prosthetic.Marco Grob
International Mine Action Day: Portraits of Survivors by Marco Grob
Nyaguna Dak lost her right leg in a mine accident and is being treated at ICRC in Juba, South Sudan.Marco Grob
International Mine Action Day: Portraits of Survivors by Marco Grob
Natlina Nakang lost her right leg in a mine accident and is being treated at ICRC in Juba, South Sudan. She travels to and from ICRC for medical attention, but is unable to communicate with anyone there because she speaks an extremely rare language.Marco Grob
International Mine Action Day: Portraits of Survivors by Marco Grob
Batali Gabriel Mody is 46 years old and lives in Yei, South Sudan. He works with the Norwegian People's Aid clearing land that was mined during the war. As a former soldier, he is an invaluable resource of information on areas that may have been mined. Mango trees, used for both shelter and food, are one of the most common locations for land mines in South Sudan along with rivers, roadsides and wells.Marco Grob
International Mine Action Day: Portraits of Survivors by Marco Grob
Juwa Stella is a deminer on an all-female demining team in Yei, South Sudan.Marco Grob
Aki Ra used to plant land mines when he was a child soldier during the Khmer Rouge regime. Now he is a deminer, and was nominated as a CNN hero in 2010.Marco Grob
Oun Los lost his leg in a land mine accident in a village of the Otdar Meancheay province when he was cutting trees and clearing bushes on a piece of land to build his house.Marco Grob
Barang Kopie lost his sight and had facial injuries after a land mine accident when he was working on his land in Battambang province.Marco Grob
Dan Lak is living in a village right next to an area that is being cleared of mines in Banteay Mancheay Province. He lost his right leg in an anti-personnel mine accident.Marco Grob
Kim Thy is a deminer of NPMEC. He has been on UN missions abroad as a deminer.Marco Grob
Sot Lun is a student at the Arrupe Center in Battambang province.Marco Grob
Loeung Los lost his leg in a land mine accident in a minefield behind his village (Damnak Kokoh, Banteay Meancheay province). Right after the accident, he was sent to a hospital in Thailand for treatment. He is still living in that village.Marco Grob
Lonh Chean is a CMAC deminer. He has been with CMAC for more than 10 years now.Marco Grob
Oung Chansophal is a CMAC deminer. He has been with CMAC over 10 yearsMarco Grob
Soy Eang is living in a village right next to an area that is being cleared of mines in Banteay Mancheay Province.Marco Grob
Pen Narin lost his leg in a land mine accident when he was in the army. HALO trust has employed him as a mine detector technician since then.Marco Grob
Sot Tol was photographed in Siem Reap at the Meta Karuna Center, a facility for the rehabilitation of land mine survivors.Marco Grob
En Poy was injured in a bombie explosion. He lost his right arm in the accident as well as the sight in his left eye.Marco Grob
Tun Channareth is a Nobel Peace prize co-recipient. He is an important advocate of the ban on land mines, and a land mine accident survivor. He is now an ambassador for the international campaign to ban land mines and oversees income generating projects for the disabled in Cambodia.Marco Grob
Sok Borey was photographed in Siem Reap at the Meta Karuna Center, a facility for the rehabilitation of land mine survivors.Marco Grob
Hol Pros was injured when an anti-personnel mine exploded behind his house.Marco Grob
International Mine Action Day: Portraits of Survivors by Marco Grob—Zahidullah
Zahidullah is 28 years old and is a deminer for the Danish Demining Group. Originally from Nangahar, Afghanistan, he is currently working to clear a minefield in Parwan province. He has been a deminer for more than five years and has found approximately 62 land mines in the course of his work.Marco Grob
International Mine Action Day: Portraits of Survivors by Marco Grob—Zakira
Zakira, 38, lost her leg when she stepped on an unexploded remnant of war on her way to the market during the civil wars. She is head of the Shura (council) of the women’s disability forum.Marco Grob
International Mine Action Day: Portraits of Survivors by Marco Grob—Mohammad Noor
Mohammad Noor, 40, is a demining-team leader and training-team leader for HALO Trust. He started working as a deminer in 1997 and is still proud to be working for mine action.Marco Grob
International Mine Action Day: Portraits of Survivors by Marco Grob—Lailuma
Lailuma is a 20-year-old student in a tailoring shop. She was 2 years old when she lost both her legs in a mine explosion at her home. Marco Grob
International Mine Action Day: Portraits of Survivors by Marco Grob—Hameedullah
Hameedullah has worked as a deminer with MAPA's implementing partner DDG for three years. He has found many mines and unexploded ordnance (UXOs) and has saved untold lives by removing them from the area.Marco Grob
International Mine Action Day: Portraits of Survivors by Marco Grob—Nazir Ahmad Azizi
Nazir Ahmad Azizi is a professional sportsman who was injured by an explosive remnant of war when his family was trying to rebuild its house in Panjshir. After his accident, his family moved to Kabul, but now that the area has been cleared, his family is able to resettle there and rebuild its home safely.Marco Grob
International Mine Action Day: Portraits of Survivors by Marco Grob—Rahmanudin
Rahmanudin, 40, is living in Parch e Shash village, Bagram, where mine clearance is taking place. He is looking forward to the completion of the clearance so that he and his fellow villagers can build their houses and walk freely anywhere.Marco Grob
International Mine Action Day: Portraits of Survivors by Marco Grob—Pacha Mir
Pacha Mir is 40 and lives in Sayad, Bagram. He was badly injured by a land mine when he was putting up a sign outside a shop: “I don’t know what happened," he recalls. "I just remember that when I started to hammer the sign into the ground, there was an explosion, and then I was injured. Fortunately, my friend who was with me was O.K.”Marco Grob
International Mine Action Day: Portraits of Survivors by Marco Grob—Ruqya
Ruqya, 35, lost both her legs in a land-mine accident. She also lost five family members, including her husband, in land-mine detonations when they were fleeing their homes during the civil war. She is now working as a tailor. Marco Grob
International Mine Action Day: Portraits of Survivors by Marco Grob—Gulsom
Gulsom, 16, is a student in a tailor shop. She was 5 years old when she lost her leg in a land-mine explosion in Kabul.Marco Grob
International Mine Action Day: Portraits of Survivors by Marco Grob—Wares Khan
Wares Khan has been a deminer with MAPA's implementing partner DDG for six years, during which time he has destroyed many different types of mines and other explosive remnants of war.Marco Grob
International Mine Action Day: Portraits of Survivors by Marco Grob—Kefatullah Eblagh
Kefatullah Eblagh is the director of Afghan Technical Consultants (ATC), a MAPA implementing partner that has been working for more than 20 years to clear the mine contamination from Afghanistan. He says that although there have been many challenges over the past 20 years, MAPA has consistently been supported by all ruling parties in the country and by many donors from all over the world.Marco Grob
International Mine Action Day: Portraits of Survivors by Marco Grob—Mohammad Omer
Mohammad Omer, 28 years old, has been a deminer with DDG for five years and has found 753 mines during his time working in Bagram.Marco Grob
International Mine Action Day: Portraits of Survivors by Marco Grob—Amina Azimi
Amina Azimi, 25, works as a journalist for the Development and Ability Organisation (DAO), a MAPA implementing partner. She was 8 years old when she lost one of her legs in a mine explosion in Kabul as she was returning from a party. She says, “I love working as a journalist [EM] it makes me feel good to be highlighting the challenges people with disabilities face.”Marco Grob

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