The Paper's reporter Liang Yanjia reported comprehensively
On August 15, 2021, the Afghan government announced a peaceful transfer of power to the Taliban, and President Ashraf Ghani announced his resignation and left Afghanistan. The hasty withdrawal of the US military, after 20 years, the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan, and also let the "war" and "battlefield" return to the sight and hot topic of people's daily life. Photographer Liu Jin, a former agence france-presse photojournalist, went into the battlefield in 2002 to cover wartime Afghanistan and in 2005 and 2009 twice as an accompanying photojournalist for the international security forces to shoot a number of exclusive news works on the front lines of the war between Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2021, he published his personal memoir of battlefield photography, Rocks and Palm Trees.
The Rocks and the Palm Trees
After many years of writing about the war life at that time, Liu Jin still clearly remembers many details, mainly because he wrote a diary at that time, "This is an unusual experience, a special record for a special experience", in case of an accident, "I want my family and friends to know who I am and what I am doing." He said.
"In a war man is always the protagonist, and only man can give war all its meanings. Although the photos reflecting the war situation in war are important and the visual impact is often very large, it attracts the attention of the public, but in the final analysis, people are the makers of war, and people are also the direct victims or beneficiaries of war, so the real focus can never be on the war, but on the people in it. So because of the delicacy of the photographer, those ordinary, insignificant, barefoot, and light-eyed people can make us have deeper feelings, not amazement, not sympathy, perhaps closer to understanding, from the current peace and stability to understand the helplessness and "struggle" of people in conflict areas.
It is a coincidence that the memoirs of war photography were published, the war was merciless, and the living people were still trying to live, showing the original tenacity of life. The author writes this passage: "We cannot be their saviors, but I know that as disseminators of objective truth, we are like a few street lights that dim the road, so that the Afghan people who yearn for freedom will not be lost and despair, and make them feel that the road ahead is not alone." ”
In 2002, from the outskirts of Kabul, we looked out over the continuous Hindu Kush Mountains. Image of this article courtesy of Jin Liu
The following is a self-report by freelance photographer Eric Zhang, media personalities Xing Zhijun and Liu Jin about "Rocks and Palm Trees"
Roses on the Rock (excerpt)
Eric Zhang
This experience has been told by Liu Jin many times, but it still took me a whole day to read this book tirelessly.
Regardless of the identity of friends and photographers, as a general reader, this photo album is still very fascinating, a rare war photographer's notebook, not to mention that this is a Chinese photographer's perspective, which makes us feel more intimate. The smooth and delicate text, abundant and vivid details, and the humorous sense of pleasure in Chengdu people's unique bitterness, truly and objectively restore the original appearance of a war photographer's work and life, which is not only interesting to read, but also makes people want to taste the green pepper chicken wings that Liu Jin made for colleagues in the war.
But the most breathtaking thing is the sheer volume of photos. To date, I have not seen any photographs of the war in this land solidly documented from so many angles in any medium. Moreover, this is still a Chinese photographer shooting, which is particularly precious. Compared with the war pictures we have seen in the past, Liu Jin's works obviously have a very delicate perspective and rich dimensions, in addition to showing the consistent cruelty of war and disregard for life, he is more to show us the daily life of soldiers and ordinary people on both sides of the war, and to show the state of "people" as individuals and groups in the special context of war.
Under Liu Jin's lens, even the smallest life is so unique, the red nails secretly painted by female students covered with burqa, the innocent smiling faces of children who have lost their arms, the American female officer reading fashion magazines by the pool, the Afghan soldiers who dance heartlessly, the cute pendants on the barrel of the gun, the roses on the military hats, the photographer himself who will be scared by the plastic bag and slam on the brakes after returning to Shanghai... It is a life that resonates with every reader.
Liu Jin did not let us face the cruelty of war by capturing the cruelty of war. He represents war by capturing a vivid, individual, emotional life. He spread before us the soft, bright, beautiful, hopeful details of humanity, in the devastated land of rocks and palm trees, and let the roses bloom in the unforgiving guns.
Susan. Sontag once said that photography and literature are similar, and photographs and words are connected. Looking at the world through the lens, the objective world will automatically present a perspective that belongs to the photographer.
Through Liu Jin's lens, we may wish to reflect on and reminisce about the protracted war in this land, and get closer to the country full of rocks and palm trees.
In 2002, Liu Jin and colleague Jimin Lai were in the office of Agence France-Presse in Kabul.
(Left) Annan, then Secretary-General of the United Nations, steps out of Kabul Airport on January 25, 2002, in Kabul, afghanistan. At a press conference at the Kabul Presidential Palace, Annan, left, whispers to Afghanistan's interim leader, Hamid Karzai. Annan's visit to Afghanistan was the first of its kind to the U.N. Security Council.
In 2002, in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, a female university student with red nails. (Left)/Female students at a secondary school in Kabul, 19 January 2002.
On January 30, 2002, a soldier leaning against the wall raised his AK-47 and fired a shot at me.
On January 30, 2002, I went around the small dirt slope behind the scene of the battle and picked up a device to transmit photos.
Patrolling soldiers (left), 2002 / Two Afghan boys lead two sheep in the snow on the outskirts of Kabul, the Afghan capital, on February 8, 2002. In recent days, a snowstorm has hit the war-torn country.
Afghans cycle through a large iron box destroyed by shelling on January 23, 2002, in Kabul, The capital of Afghanistan.
(Left) An Afghan walks through a war-torn area in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, on January 28, 2002. In Afghanistan's long civil war, many Afghans have lost their families and homes. / (Right) An elderly Afghan Northern Alliance soldier stands at the corner of a street on January 30, 2002.
In Afghanistan in 2002, soldiers decorated themselves with flowers, as well as weapons.
On 22 January 2002, in Kabul, Afghanistan, two bank staff members checked at the Bank of Afghanistan to update the employees of the Interim Government of the Northern Union on a one-month delay in their salaries.
An Afghan girl and a woman in a buka robe look out from a bus in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, on 23 January 2002.
In Kabul, Afghanistan, in 2002, women in burqa robes gave money to people with disabilities.
Seeing his picture, I suddenly asked myself: What did I leave behind?
Xing Zhijun
I met Liu Jin in the late 1990s, when he had just graduated from Nortel's photography department, with thick eyebrows and big eyes. He didn't want to play movies and insisted on being a journalist. Looking at his body and cleverness, it is expected that he is also the material for a photojournalist. He went around and went through a lot, but never put down the camera. When he was most confused, I found him in a factory building on the outskirts of Beijing, by which time he had left AFP and started a portrait photography studio, which seemed a little lonely, but also a little unwilling. When the sun was shining, he went grocery shopping, and when he rolled up his sleeves and stir-fried vegetables, I confirmed that he was not decadent. In his loud words with a Bashu accent, he did not see through the red dust after life and death, let alone cynicism, he was holding his breath and wanted to take off again.
One day in the late spring of 2019, Liu Jin called me to Shanghai to discuss a war photography book, at this time he was already the father of two sons, living in a three-story building, in addition to a few flesh lines piled up on his forehead, the spirit radiating under the thick eyebrows was still twenty years ago. He strides in his study, bending over with his head held high, several large-capacity hard disks piled on his desk, and a computer screen showing the "war" from the Middle East.
This is the first time I've seen his battlefield photos! It is also very peculiar to say, in the media for many years, but also fought with the best photography team in China, but for his friend Liu Jin to pay more attention to his life. I was silent when I saw his war-field photographs of Iraq and Afghanistan twice, and listened to him tell the story behind each photo. Only then did I really feel that he was a journalist, a war photojournalist who was not afraid of danger! I have never been a photojournalist, but I have written some articles on photography, such as the relationship in photographs, the attitude of on-site photography without the first scene, etc., most of what I experienced was urban and rural life in China's peaceful environment, and Liu Jin's war photography completely subverted my conventional understanding of a journalist, especially a photojournalist. He has always been attacking as a journalist, with wisdom and bravery, he has always been at the forefront of the news, with the smell of gunpowder.
As I tried to do classified editing chapters for his war photography, his footprints in Iraq and Afghanistan gradually became clear, and the time when there was little connection - I was comfortable in Hangzhou and he risked death on the battlefield - splicing together a picture of light and fire: "There was a loud noise in the airport, and colleagues calmly said that they did not know who stepped on the mine" "In the melee, I chased after the UN Secretary-General, grabbing the camera to grasp the scale of action" "The second expedition, learned to separate the bulletproof vest between the door and the body"... The book was published unexpectedly smoothly, with 14 chapters, more than 260 photographs, more than 27,000 words, and 396 pages. This is no longer a simple photography book, it is a biography of a Chinese journalist who has a highlight of his career, an eternal monument.
News is the first draft of history, and everything in the past, whether it is a storm or a flower, will be quiet. History has its own descendants to write, this "Rocks and Palm Trees" is Liu Jin's war correspondent's imitation, or will become the closest to the scene of the war in the years of the historical material. It's a memorandum, it's a clear note.
On August 26, 2005, a U.S. Black Hawk helicopter flew past the outskirts of Baghdad, billowing smoke billowing from the chimney of a distant refinery.
In Iraq in 2005, soldiers on manhunt missions interrogated every detail.
In Iraq in 2005, reinforcements of U.S. soldiers remain on alert at the scene of an attack on U.S. forces (left) / An American soldier stands next to a Humvee.
Bar on the top floor of the Mansour Hotel in Iraq, 2005. From these peach-shaped windows, you can see the downtown area of Baghdad shrouded in sandstorms.
In September 2005, a female U.S. military officer sunbathed a moment in the pool of a military barracks in Iraq. (Left)/A small U.S. military patrol rests in an abandoned building near the former Residence of President Saddam Hussein, August 19, 2005.
On 2 September 2005, a teenager stood guard in his grocery store on the streets of Baghdad, and a joint U.S.-Iran patrol passed outside. (Left) / On the streets of Baghdad, 2 September 2005, local residents eat a simple breakfast.
On 4 September 2005, a Baghdad child leaned out from behind a street wall and looked at soldiers of Iraqi security forces on patrol, looking at each other.
On August 31, 2005, in an alley in Baghdad, American soldiers on patrol leaned against the head of a Humvee, across the street from two local teenagers.
On 17 July 2005, on the streets of Baghdad, an Iraqi security forces soldier pointed a gun at the driver of a vehicle under interrogation and prepared for an on-the-spot check.
On 16 July 2005, in a house on the outskirts of Baghdad, a joint U.S.-Iran search team was on a terrorist hunt.
On 27 July 2005, during a military operation, a teenage girl spoke with the owner of a farmhouse under the gaze of a soldier from the Iraqi security forces in charge of vigilance on the periphery.
In August 2005, in Baghdad, Iraq, a U.S. soldier in a camp spread over the sand.
Photographer's Note:
"When I opened my eyes, I saw through the dangling portholes that the plane was flying close to the ridge, and the snow-covered ridge seemed so close that it seemed within reach. At this point, the flight has flown for almost an hour, and it will soon land in Kabul..." One day in the middle of summer 2019, I leaned back on the couch in my study and thought about it, and my heart suddenly lit up, remembering the scene of entering Afghanistan in 2002 on a United Nations work plane, and there was the beginning of the whole book.
In the years after returning from the war interview, I had the idea of writing these experiences into books and albums, but each time I gave up because I didn't think about how to start. But that day opened the curtain of my memory from here, and the scenes of war life flashed back to my mind like a movie screen.
The "rock" in the title of the book represents Afghanistan in my heart, not only because of the geographical environment of Afghanistan, but also symbolizes the hardships and strength of Afghanistan over the past century; the "palm tree" in the title of the book represents Iraq. The main basins of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers mentioned in the second chapter of genesis in the Bible are in Iraq, one of the important birthplaces of human civilization. The main plant in the Two Rivers Basin is the palm tree. Palm trees symbolize victory, life, prosperity and rest.
These two countries are heroes in my heart, true heroes can withstand hardships, true heroes need to be refined, true heroes can always cry after a night, and they will cheer in the morning!
Just like twenty years ago on 9/11 I was thinking, "9/11 can happen, the twin towers can disappear in this way, so what else in this world can't happen?" When the smoke of war breaks out and the storm shines brightly, can we still look forward to the future through those unknown things? In my search for answers, I was fortunate not only that the camera was a part of my body, but that photography had become a channel and a way for me to explore, think and express. Photography can be very concrete, figurative is that the traces of time can be easily seen on the picture, and at the same time it can also have unlimited space, this space is unknown, not virtual at all, it is very real!
In Afghanistan in 2009, after rain and sunshine, followed the U.S. convoy on muddy mountain roads.
On April 13, 2009, in a mountainous river valley in northeastern Afghanistan, locals passed by temporary U.S. military checkpoints and seemed accustomed to military operations.
A little girl from a rural area in the mountains of northeastern Afghanistan stands in a wheat field on April 9, 2009.
In Afghanistan in 2009, more than a dozen soldiers settled in their rooms at the outpost. (Left)/When the patrol up the hill approaches the top of the mountain, the surrounding scenery is unobstructed.
Exhausted U.S. soldiers sleep in their clothes on April 10, 2009 at a post in the mountains of northeastern Afghanistan. (Bottom left) An American soldier reads a book at the end of a day's mission. (Right) In a military camp in the mountains of northeastern Afghanistan on April 15, 2009, a U.S. soldier jumps up and does several pull-ups as he passes a horizontal bar.
Afghan police played volleyball with a soccer ball in a clearing at a police station on April 13, 2009, in the mountains of northeastern Afghanistan.
On April 13, 2009, an Afghan police officer on duty pinned a small red flower to his gun belt in the mountains of northeastern Afghanistan.
Liu Jin, born in 1973, is a former agency photojournalist who covered wartime Afghanistan in 2002 and shot a number of exclusive news works on the front lines of the war between Iraq and Afghanistan in 2005 and 2009 as an accompanying photojournalist for the international security forces. In 2008, Liu Jin's photographs taken during the Wenchuan earthquake won the Excellence Award of the 66th Global Annual Picture of the Year (POYI) that year. In 2021, he published his personal memoir of battlefield photography, Rocks and Palm Trees.
Editor-in-Charge: Gao Jianping
Proofreader: Yan Zhang