Our Afghan family: A Memory of a Life gone by

On August 15, 2021, the Taliban retook Kabul. Olivier Jobard, a committed photographer, saw the images on his phone while sitting next to Ghorban, a young Afghan he had met in Paris in 2010 and whose displacement he had already documented. At that moment, Ghorban had only one idea in mind: to bring his two sisters, Sima and Aziza, to France. He embarked on a race against time, supported by a Franco-Afghan network.

This new project goes beyond the scope of traditional reporting. For the first time, the photographer includes his own children in the narrative. Elias and Léon spontaneously form bonds with the young refugees. A connection grows, transcending language and life paths. A new kind of intimacy emerges, and his family expands.

This work marks a turning point. It blends a documentary approach with personal commitment. Without compromising the standards of photojournalism, Jobard allows for a more direct, more visible emotion. At times, he steps back to give more space to others.

He also returns to Afghanistan—a country he has been documenting for over thirty years, suspended between war and a deceptive peace. In the apparent calm of rural daily life, he walks in the footsteps of those he once protected, now displaced, becoming a smuggler of images—if not of destinies.

Through this series, Olivier Jobard explores the notions of family, welcome, and transmission. He presents displacement from a deeply intimate and human perspective. The story of Ghorban, Sima, and Aziza becomes, in part, his own—and perhaps, ours as well.