{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1181406"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1181406/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2010EH8157/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2010EH8157/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2010EH8157","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London/Atiq Rahimi","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O1181406/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1181406","accessionNumber":"E.964-2010","objectType":"Photograph","titles":[{"title":"Cul-de-sac des souvenirs","type":"assigned by artist"},{"title":"Cul-de-sac (dead end) of memories","type":"assigned by artist"},{"title":"Le retour imaginaire","type":"series title"}],"summaryDescription":"Rahimi wanted to capture Kabul on film but was not satisfied with the images he obtained with modern cameras. He felt they could not express his emotions and perceptions of the town sufficiently. During his search for a suitable medium he discovered the pin-hole camera. A simple tool, this type of camera is merely a wooden box with a hole. Most of the technical operations are left to chance - from estimating the correct distance for focusing to the exposure time. Pinhole cameras are still used today in Afghanistan by the akâsse fawri- zarouri, literally translated as the 'instant-urgent photographer', to capture portraits in the streets in front of a cloth backdrop. Atiq Rahimi used the pinhole camera to take pictures of people in everyday life situations and places around Kabul. As a result of the nature of experimentation and chance, these photographic prints are unique pieces that cannot be replicated. Grainy and dream-like, the process makes them appear to have been made in the late 19th or early 20th century; yet on closer inspection modern details, such as architecture of clothing, gives clues as to their modernity.","physicalDescription":"Black and white photograph showing the corner of a concrete roof-top with three figures.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Rahimi, Atiq","id":"A39886"},"association":{"text":"photographer","id":"x43821"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"photographic paper","id":"AAT14190"}],"techniques":[{"text":"gelatin silver process","id":"AAT139114"},{"text":"pinhole photography","id":"THES253091"},{"text":"photography","id":"AAT54225"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Gelatin silver print","categories":[{"text":"Photographs","id":"THES48910"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2010EH8157"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"LVLC","id":"THES49171"},"free":"","case":"MB2H","shelf":"DR","box":"10"}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"photograph","id":"AAT46300"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Afghanistan","id":"x30023"},"association":{"text":"photographed","id":"x30151"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"2002","earliest":"2002-01-01","latest":"2002-12-31"},"association":{"text":"photographed","id":"x30151"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[{"object":{"text":"E.962-2010","id":"O1181408"},"association":"Series"},{"object":{"text":"E.963-2010","id":"O1181407"},"association":"Series"},{"object":{"text":"E.965-2010","id":"O1181405"},"association":"Series"},{"object":{"text":"E.966-2010","id":"O1181404"},"association":"Series"},{"object":{"text":"E.967-2010","id":"O1181403"},"association":"Series"}],"creditLine":"Art Fund Collection of Middle Eastern Photography at the V&A and the British Museum","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"6.7","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"image","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"11.6","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"image","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"24.3","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"mount","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"29.3","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"mount","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Photograph, 'Cul-de-sac des souvenirs [Cul-de-sac (dead end) of memories]', from the series 'Le retour imaginaire', gelatin silver print, by Atiq Rahimi, Afghanistan, 2002","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"Light from the Middle East: New Photography","id":"AUTH321423"},"details":"","free":""}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"Unique","id":"THES48864"},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[{"text":"Kabul","id":"x35605"}],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"roof-tops","id":"AAT4753"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"Rahimi returned to Afghanistan in 2002, after the fall of the Taliban. Confronted by the ruins of Kabul, he decided not to photograph the city with his digital camera. Instead he chose a primitive box camera normally used to take identity portraits in the streets of Kabul. The unpredictable process resulted in dreamlike photographs. They convey the nostalgia and brutal feelings of loss that Rahimi experienced when revisiting the war-wounded city.\n\n(Marta Weiss)","date":{"text":"September 2012","earliest":"2012-09-01","latest":"2012-09-30"}}],"partNumbers":["E.964-2010"],"accessionNumberNum":"964","accessionNumberPrefix":"E","accessionYear":2010,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-03-25","recordCreationDate":"2011-02-01","availableToBook":false}}