Afghanistan: Unordinary lives

Medijski odzivi

"Stories about the lives of ordinary Afghans are few and far between and receive scant media coverage, especially in the last few years when it has become increasingly clear that the international community's policies in Afghanistan are not working. But their stories deserve to be told and seen, to remind us of the real images of war and poverty - of a life that is far from ordinary."

"I was certainly changed by everything I saw. How, I couldn't say. But when you are there, you perceive reality differently. Although it may sound cliché, the camera is still a filter," says Manca Juvan, who describes her life in Afghanistan, adding, "When you travel, you are much more sensitive than at home."
- 24ur.com

"I kept going back to Afghanistan because I felt like I didn't understand it, and there were so many other things I was interested in, things I wanted to show. From small stories, I eventually pieced together a bigger story - of a forgotten Afghanistan."
- Manca Juvan in an interview with Playboy

"Manca Juvan Hessabi debunks the myth of Afghanistan as a country of warmongers and insurgents. The confidante of the humiliated and the disgraced uses her photographic exhibition and photomontage Afghanistan: Extraordinary Lives to appeal to the idea that every human being wants a decent life."
- Manca Čujež, Siol.net

"The book is accompanied by quotes from conversations with Afghans, ordinary people. They are of no interest to the authorities there, they are anonymous, which is why she wanted to give them a voice..."
- Dnevnik

"Afghanistan: Extraordinary Lives is an inventory of her photographs of everyday life there, where people's hopes are fading despite promises of peace, reconstruction and prosperity, years after the fall of the Taliban regime."
- Vojko Urbančič, Delo

"Shocking photographic stories and images."
- Aleš Čakš, Finance

"... a series of visual letters against the war, she looked into Afghan life with her lens everywhere, on the street, in a women's prison, an orphanage, a psychiatric institution, and with pictorial metaphors she wrote the story of those 'humiliated and insulted' who were not spared by the war."
- Igor Bratož, Književni listi, Delo

"Struggling with poverty and the burdens of war, Afghans do not like pity, but want and deserve an honest view that will do justice to their daily lives and the consequences of the constant conflict of interests and the ongoing struggle for money, power and general authority..."
- MMC rtv slo

"Manca Juvan's full-colour photographs present a situation that is written in people's minds by unrest and war."
- Boris Beja, Siol.net

"The extraordinary life of Manca Juvan ..."
- Metaphor Online

"The photographs in Afghanistan: Unordinary Lives are beautiful, sensitive and personal, which would not stand out without such a powerful and profound narrative. By covering such a broad selection of social issues, Juvan manages to give a general idea of the enormity of the problems facing Afghans. The holistic approach illuminates the complexity and the book succeeds brilliantly in expressing the interconnectedness of circumstances, consequences and side effects that are often overshadowed or sidelined by war."
- GUP magazine