--- description: "The Little Book of Kabul" goes inside the lives of local artists title: The Little Book of Kabul image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5f1587b0c7786cae/6987e97de53abab74b4db21e/afghanistan-kabul-6.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [LightBox](/tag/time-section-lightbox/) ## LightBox Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Follow the Everyday Lives of Artists in Kabul by [Richard Conway](/author/richard-conway/) ## Richard Conway Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 27, 2014 8:01 AM CUT  Young skaters practice in the garden of the Institut Français d’Afghanistan during the Sound Central Music Festival. Young skaters practice in the garden of the Institut Français d’Afghanistan during the Sound Central Music Festival.Lorenzo Tugnoli by [Richard Conway](/author/richard-conway/) ## Richard Conway Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 27, 2014 8:01 AM CUT When photographer Lorenzo Tugnoli and writer Francesca Recchia started making _The Little Book of Kabul_ — a crowd-funded work chronicling the lives of artists in the Afghan capital — they weren’t sure what they wanted it to look like. But they were definitely sure what they _didn’t_ want it to portray. “One of the things that we didn’t want was an exotic dimension,” says Recchia, an independent researcher and writer. “An ‘Oh my God, you work in Kabul!’ moment.” And what is an “Oh my God” moment? Think visual and written tropes often present in Western coverage of life in Afghanistan, they say: images of battle-ravaged towns or descriptions of foreign troops patrolling desolate landscapes. This book, they hoped, would be a little different. “It was important to navigate around the idea of cliches,” says Tugnoli, a freelance photojournalist who often works for _The Wall Street Journal_. “Working in country like Afghanistan as a photographer, if I \[produced\] a book focusing on stereotypes, it would be a failure.” Having lived in Kabul for three years, the two were familiar with its community of artists, one struggling to preserve a sense of normality on a day-to-day basis. They wanted to look at how these artists worked in the lead up to the 2014 transition — in which responsibility for security in Afghanistan [is being transferred from the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force](http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/topics%5F87183.htm "undefined") to the Afghan National Security Forces. And so Tugnoli and Recchia embedded themselves with local bands such as [_Kabul Dreams_](https://www.facebook.com/pages/Kabul-Dreams/162718785677 "undefined"), and with actors, art students and skaters; becoming, they say, a part of the community. What emerged was a book telling the story of local creatives through a series of Tugnoli’s images juxtaposed with Recchia’s reporting. The finished work is small in size, they add, because they wanted _The Little Book_ to be an accessible, yet in-depth, document of a constantly-evolving community. “It wasn’t a matter of interviewing someone or taking a picture and then leaving,” Recchia says,”it’s really quite an intimate perspective on people’s lives.” --- **_Lorenzo Tugnoli_** _is a photographer who has been published in The Wall Street Journal and_ **_Francesca Recchia_** _is an independent researcher and writer. Read more about_ [**The Little Book of Kabul**](https://littlebookofkabul.wordpress.com/ "undefined")**.** **_Richard Conway_** _is reporter/producer for TIME LightBox_ ---  A man looks out of the window as he travels on a bus in downtown Kabul. Lorenzo Tugnoli  Women walk on the street in the old city in Kabul. Lorenzo Tugnoli  A worker stitches a patchwork carpet in one of Rahim Walizada’s factories in Kabul. Lorenzo Tugnoli  Arifa, a student at the Center for Contemporary Arts Afghanistan, poses for one of her colleagues’ art work. Lorenzo Tugnoli  Students draw and paint in the library of the Center for Contemporary Arts Afghanistan. Lorenzo Tugnoli  Two actors of the Afghanistan National Theater on stage during the rehearsals of a play. Lorenzo Tugnoli  The building under restoration of the Afghanistan National Theater. Lorenzo Tugnoli  Young skaters practice in the garden of the Institut Français d’Afghanistan during the Sound Central Music Festival. Lorenzo Tugnoli  Kabul Dreams play during the shooting of the official video for their song Good morning freedom. Lorenzo Tugnoli  Young men cheer during a performance of the heavy metal band District Unknown at the Institut Français d’Afghanistan during the Sound Central Music Festival. Lorenzo Tugnoli  Men gather to pray after the weekly session of the Pashto Poetry Society in Kabul. Lorenzo Tugnoli  An actress runs through the ruins of Darulaman Palace during the recording of a music video filmed by Jump Cut, a collective of young independent film-makers. Lorenzo Tugnoli ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3812570/kabul-afghanistan-photobook/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3812570/kabul-afghanistan-photobook/"},"headline":"Follow the Everyday Lives of Artists in Kabul","datePublished":"2014-10-27T08:01:11.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:40:19.689Z","description":"The Little Book of Kabul tries to avoid cliches often present in Western coverage of life in Afghanistan by following local artists.","url":"https://time.com/3812570/kabul-afghanistan-photobook/","keywords":["LightBox","Afghanistan","Kabul","Artists","Out There"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5f1587b0c7786cae/6987e97de53abab74b4db21e/afghanistan-kabul-6.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Richard Conway","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/richard-conway/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5f1587b0c7786cae/6987e97de53abab74b4db21e/afghanistan-kabul-6.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The Little Book of Kabul","caption":"Young skaters practice in the garden of the Institut Français d’Afghanistan during the Sound Central Music Festival.","creditText":"Lorenzo Tugnoli","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-lightbox/","name":"LightBox"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3812570/kabul-afghanistan-photobook/","name":"Follow the Everyday Lives of Artists in Kabul"}}]}] ```