2026 SDN Visual Storytelling Festival Speaker Series

No Woman's Land

Documenting Afghan Women's Lives Under the Taliban

Tuesday, March 3, 1:30 pm ET via Zoom

Panel discussion and presentation with Kiana Hayeri and Mélissa Cornet
Moderated by Sarah Leen

No cost for program but registration is required.

Photograph by Kiana Hayeri.

What does everyday life look like for women in Afghanistan today, after two decades of U.S. occupation and the Taliban’s swift return to power? Over the past four years, Afghan women have been progressively erased from public life. They are banned from schools and universities, excluded from most forms of work, and denied access to public spaces such as parks and bathhouses. In public, they are required to cover their faces, move only with a male guardian, and remain silent.

This event brings together photographer Kiana Hayeri and women’s rights researcher Mélissa Cornet, who have spent years living and working in Afghanistan and have witnessed the steady tightening of restrictions on women firsthand. In 2024, after being awarded the Carmignac Photojournalism Award, they traveled across seven provinces over ten weeks, speaking with more than 100 Afghan women and girls about how their lives have been reshaped under Taliban rule. The accounts they gathered reflect a fragile balance of resilience, resistance, and profound loss.

The discussion will explore how Cornet and Hayeri were able to meet and work with Afghan women in such a constrained environment. How did their position as foreign women shape these encounters? What precautions were taken to protect those who shared their stories? How have these testimonies been received by the international community? And how do you continue pushing for impact in a world that turned its attention away from Afghanistan?

Kiana and Mélissa’s long-term work in Afghanistan and the region documents and examines the lived realities of women and girls under conflict and political repression. In 2024, Kiana and Mélissa were named laureates of the 14th Carmignac Photojournalism Award for their joint project, formalizing a collaboration that merges visual storytelling and rigorous field research to document how women navigate shrinking freedoms.

Kiana Hayeri

Kiana Hayeri, an Iranian Canadian photographer, lived in Afghanistan for nearly a decade documenting the multifaceted impact of war and its toll on individuals, particularly women. Her work is often recognized for its authenticity and the nuanced perspectives it offers. Kiana is a Senior TED Fellow, a National Geographic Explorer grantee and a regular contributor to The New York Times.

Website: www.kianahayeri.com
Instagram: @kianahayeri

Mélissa Cornet

Mélissa Cornet is a women’s rights researcher who lived and worked in Afghanistan, conducting ground level research on women’s economic agency, political participation, protection from violence and the deepening restrictions under Taliban rule. Her analyses have informed international policy debates and have been featured by BBC, The Guardian, Frontline and others.

Website: www.melissa-cornet.com
Instagram: @melissacrt

Moderator: Sarah Leen

For nearly 20 years Sarah Leen worked as an independent photographer for National Geographic magazine until 2004 when she joined the staff as a Senior Photo Editor. In 2013, Leen became the first female Director of Photography for National Geographic Magazine and Partners. She has won numerous awards for both her photography and photo editing. She has edited ten photobooks since 2020 including Ukraine: A War Crime, the POY Photobook of the Year in 2023, Ukraine Love + War, HABIBI by Antonio Facciolongo, We Cry in Silence by Smita Sharma, the 2022 Lucie Book Award for Independent Book, The Phoenician Collapse by Diego Ibarra Sanchez and A Troubled Home by Anush Babajanyan. Leen is a Board member of the Social Documentary Network, is a member of the Lucie Awards Board of Advisors and in 2024 she received an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from the University of Missouri School of Journalism. 

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