José NICOLAS (1956) - Lot 257

José NICOLAS (1956) Afghanistan 1984 Anachronistic convoy Print On back, artist's stamp, signed, titled, dated, located Dimensions including margins: 24 x 30 cm Note: This photograph, taken in Afghanistan in 1984, is in the tradition of great humanist and documentary reportage. It captures a moment of transition between modernity and ancestral traditions, where contemporary objects (radio, motorcycle) cohabit with age-old ways of getting around. The images bear sober and accurate witness to the daily realities of a territory marked by conflict, without spectacularity or excessive dramatization, favoring observation and human presence. The photographer's eye is distinguished by a sensitive, almost ethnographic approach, where careful composition and depth of field give pride of place to landscapes and human figures alike. The original, signed print reinforces the work's documentary and artistic value, making it both a historical testimony and a collector's item. This photograph is not just a trace of the past: it also questions our relationship with progress, mobility and the memory of peoples, and reminds us of the photographer's essential role as a transmitter of history and realities that are often invisible.