19th Annual Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest Altered Images
Mahnaz

I think we Asians are like lamps that don’t adjust to the environment and Iranian society. We are always seen as low-level. Perhaps they don't respect us because of our undeveloped country. People judge by what they see, at first sight, they think I'm Japanese so respect me, but as they found out I am Afghan, they change their behavior. I wish I was a Tajik (Tajikistan) girl, I am similar to them, there is no difference between an Asian and the others over there, many of them are similar to us but they don't live as hard as us. sometimes I think maybe we (our ethnic) have been derived from Korea or Tajikistan, maybe we emerged here far years ago and that's why we belong to nowhere, we are disoriented. My drawings are the only place which my dreams come true, I can imagine whatever I want, whether legend or reality, I draw myself as a Tajik girl. This is a story about the Hazara migrants, there is no place for them neither in their Homeland Afghanistan nor in their destination, Iran. They face genocide and harassment in Afghanistan and some kind of Asian hate in Iran.

Photo Detail
Date Taken: 07.2019
Date Uploaded: 11.2021
Photo Location: Iran
Camera: Canon EOS 6D
Copyright: © aran ra'dparsa