Logar, Afghanistan 1982

Ed Grazda’s photograph captures two Afghan men with their bikes, somewhere in Logar. Looking at this print, I am imagining the quiet focus of the photographer, framing the scene. What was it like to be there? The light is diffuse and still; the granularity of the image feels heavy with atmosphere. It’s a study in contrasts: soft versus hard, light versus dark. The bikes suggest movement, even in this moment of pause. I wonder what the two men are thinking, what they are about to do. They are so present, so in the moment, that everything else fades away. In a way, all artists are in conversation with each other. The push and pull of influence, a continual volley of looking, thinking, and responding across time. Like all art, this image invites us to be present with it, to feel it, to be moved by it. Art is about possibilities, holding space for doubt, for the unknown, and for the multiple ways of seeing and being.