Bio

Sandra Calligaro
Born in 1981. French free-lance photographer.
Lives and works in Afghanistan since 2007. Represented by Picturetank photo agency.

After studying arts and photography in Paris, she decided to become a reporter. She went to Afghanistan for the first time in 2007, and then did several trips before settling there.
For the last 4 years, she has been working for French and European media outlets (Le Monde, Le Nouvel Observateur, Paris Match, De l’Air, Elle, Grazia, Causette, Neon, Omvärlden, Expressen…) and alongside international NGOs and organizations (Doctors of the World, Action Against Hunger, Madera, Relief International, UNODC, UNHCR) or foundations (Aga Khan Foundation).

She worked on a community of heroin users in Kabul and on Afghan emigration, which she approached from 2 points of views: those who leave, and those who are left behind.

In 2011, she particularly concentrated on 10 years after, Kabul, a project that shows the Afghan capital, through her own eyes, 10 years into the war. She decided to look for once at the city in a different way, as she feels that the media representation has been unfettered, shameless and almost pornographic. Her idea was to look for people inside the town, and to capture them with respect and decency, which often meant allowing the subject some distance. This work has been exhibited at the French Institute of Afghanistan, in Kabul, in October and then in November at Confluences, in Paris.

In summer 2011, her work was also part of the group exhibition of the magazine De l’air, held at the Maison Européenne de la Photographie, in Paris.