As my visits to the Kalash Valleys became research related, the nature of my journals changed. My writing, increasingly less impressionistic, morphed into a functional tool for data collection. I kept up my drawing however. These later pictures differ from their predecessors in the care and time which I invested in them. I was no longer on a brief visit, but embedded in the community. The intimacy which this change in my relationship with the Kalasha brought about is reflected in the first group of drawings presented here. These portraits of my host family often show them asleep or in bed, compositions which demonstrate the closeness that developed between us.
The latter group of drawings was made for a short story written by my Kalasha friend Sikandar Kalas. The story follows a teenage girl’s attempt to put a halt to the local logging industry which in recent years has contributed to a succession of devastating floods. Bound up in Sikandar’s narrative are Kalasha beliefs and practices which he fears are disappearing and which have also helped people maintain a balanced relationship with their environment. The drawings make up part of an educational resource created by the Royal Anthropological Institute.
