Portrait project

Veteran Advocates

Veteran Advocates is the companion photography portrait project to the Afghan interpreter project, We Are Here, both completed with Prof Sara de Jong. These Afghanistan military veterans, who served for various NATO countries, amplified the voices of Afghan interpreters through media engagement, political lobbying, and legal challenges. They also provided direct support, including during the evacuation efforts in August 2021. The veteran advocates are portrayed as looking at themselves in the mirror (with their portraits facing a photographic negative); they were only able to face themselves when stepping out of anonymity and supporting their former Afghan colleagues. It is for this reason, that the veterans spoke up and put their heads above the parapet, that these portraits have not been given the same anonymising treatment as the Afghan interpreters featured in We Are Here.

Why Veteran Advocates?

Andy completed two tours of Afghanistan, one as a military interpreter and one working with a local Afghan interpreter. When the Taliban took control of Kabul and the country of Afghanistan in 2021 he was affected. He was not the only one; in Sweden, calls to a phone line for veterans in need increased by 800% during the Fall of Kabul. In the UK a 2023 Defence Select Committee report noted that British“veterans’ mental health will be negatively affected by those Afghans left behind”. Veteran Advocates was a portrait project designed to capture the likeness of veterans who stood up and advocated for Afghan interpreters to be evacuated from Afghanistan where, due to their service to NATO countries, they were at risk of death by the Taliban. Despite the risks being known to NATO countries, few governments took pre- emptive actions to aid their interpreters; instead choosing to leave them, if possible, behind in Afghanistan. Through the actions of these veterans turned advocates some, but not all, interpreters found resettlement for themselves and their immediate families outside Afghanistan.

Close StoryRead More