Rafaela Persson: Afghan Women

Rafaela Persson graduated from the Documentary Photography and Photojournalism program at the International Center of Photography in New York in 2008. She holds an MA in sociology with studies in human rights, international migration and ethnic relations from university of Lund, Sweden.

Her photographs were exhibited in Copenhagen, the International Center of Photography in New York, the Pingyao Festival in China, and are featured in the ICIMOD traveling exhibition: Nepal 2008, Germany, Switzerland, US and Japan in 2009. Her work was published in The New York Times, Sydasien, People Sweden, the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan and the Canadian Film Board.

Rafaela was recently chosen to participate in the Asia-Europe Emerging Photographers Forum 2009 in Kuala Lumpur.

Have a look at Rafaela's work with drug-addicted women in Afghanistan. The Afghan women say they have taken to drugs as a way to comfort themselves and their children when they go hungry or cold.