Left: Nautch Girls. (John Burke, 1880)
(Courtesy of the Wilson Centre for Photography, London)
Right: Young women in the indoor skatepark of the NGO ‘Skateistan,' set up by American volunteers to help young Afghans improve their skateboarding and
indoor rock-climbing
skills.
Nautch girls were musicians and dancers for the private entertainment of the Emir. Being Hindus from India they could be photographed by Burke whereas Afghan women of any status could not.
The Tate Modern prints then toured to FOMU, Amsterdam; Side Gallery, Newcastle, Jeonbuk Arts Centre, Jeonju, S Korea; the Millenium Art Museum, Beijing and Galerie Carré d'Art, Rennes.
