Inshallah

Challenge

How do you process war as more than spectacle? Inshallah began as frontline photojournalism in Afghanistan—but it quickly became something else: a deeply personal attempt to understand trauma, memory, and the violence of forgetting. This was never meant to be “a war book.”  It was built to be a visual catharsis.

Solution

I combined appropriated imagery, original photography (shot on everything from DSLRs to iPhones), and data fragments to construct a nonlinear, psychological portrait of the Afghan war—and of myself as a witness.

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Key components:

• Book structure: Fragmented, dreamlike, nonlinear—mirroring memory
• Visual tone: Raw, intimate, often blurred or overexposed to reflect emotional overload
• Typography + pacing: Sparse, almost silent—amplifying what isn’t said
• Installation & exhibitions: Designed spatial experiences where viewers confront both scale and stillness

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Impact

• Published by Kehrer Verlag in 2015
• Winner of multiple international book and photography awards (PDN, PX3, Schönste Deutsche Bücher, among others)
• Exhibited in the U.S., France, Japan, Canada, Poland, and Greece
• Taught in visual storytelling and trauma journalism courses
• Became the symbol of the Afghan war, immortalized in the U.S. National Infantry Museum

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Role

Author, photographer, designer, and producer. I created and led every part of Inshallah—from embedded reporting and editing to production and international exhibitions. It remains my most personal and resolved work.