To celebrate the launch of Lana Slezic's print for the Nuru Project (available for rent and purchase through Artsicle.com ), Jayshree Bajoria, self proclaimed badass bhangra dancer, and former Deputy Editor of CFR.org, website of the New York think tank, Council on Foreign Relations has reflected on the image in a poem:

You won’t allow me to go to school.
I won’t become a doctor.
Remember this:
One day you will be sick.

This is a rubaiyat (Arabic word for a Quatrain) addressed to the Taliban by Lima, a 15-year old girl living in Kabul. I read it in this wonderful piece by Eliza Griswold. When I saw this print by Lana Slezic, it was Lima who first came to mind. The photograph reminded me of the same spirit that I heard in Lima’s defiant poem. For me, the photo is a powerful depiction of courage and hope amid war and destruction; I see determination in this little girl’s step even as I take in the haunting desolation of the abandoned building.

- Jayshree

Be sure to check out the rest of our collection from the Nuru Project for further inspiration. 

Text by Tamar Nachmany for Artsicle. Photography by artists of the Nuru Project.