Fashioning the Body: Versions of the Citizen, the Self, and the Subject

http://inmotion.magnumphotos.com/essays/taliban.aspx

*Note* Requires sound.

Here is a link to a Magnum Photo essay about a cache of secret photos of Taliban members. The Taliban prohibits most photography, but there exists a collection used for identification annnd, secretly, self-fashioning.

The second floor of the CAB contains two doorways that are set back away from the main hallway. These two entrances are significantly unique from the rest of the doorways in the building. Here lie two short hallways, one blue, one purple. On the exterior of the entrances are words, respectively to the colors, "MEN 201A" and "WOMEN 202A." Upon entering the short hallway, there are more doors. The MEN entrance says "MEN" again next to a placard with a visual symbol: a simplistic body shape standing straight up next to a figure sitting on a circular shape. The WOMEN entrance says "WOMEN" next to a similar placard, but this standing figure had a triangular abdomen (the sititng figure is identical to its MEN sign).

In the purple WOMEN's entrance, a person has the option to enter a doorless room before entering the closed door straight ahead. This doorless room on the right side in the entrance has dim lighting, white walls, and an orange bed/couch/chaise lounge. This small room is entitled, in a sign in the hallway, "LOUNGE."

In the blue MEN's entrance hall, an average person does not have the option to enter a doorway on the left hand side of the short hallway. This doorway is locked, has a white board on it, and is entitled "JANITOR."

While it may appear the two restooms are markedly different, the layouts inside are mostly the same. Save the fact the women's has three stalls (tall make-shift 'rooms' containing a porcelain bowl filled with water) and the men's has only one… and that the men's has two porcelain bowls (no water) propped on one wall at two different heights. A minimal board divides the two bowls here. In any case, both rooms have three porcelain bowls that produce water next to dispensers of scented liquid and dispensers of paper towels. These sinks are at a low enough height that a person in a wheelchair could use them, but we noticed that the doors did not open automatically, potentially making entrance difficult for some people.