For two years Lana Slezic documented the lives of women in Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban. What she encountered did not square with the picture painted by the Western media of schools for girls, streets without burkas and women who were no longer oppressed. On the contrary: from her travels around the country and the conversations she had with women as she moved around, it appeared that Afghanistan was still a ruthless and tribal land in which - certainly outside of Kabul - women and girls were the chief victims. Forsaken tells their story, a story that they themselves cannot tell.

Photojournalist Lana Slezic (b. 1973, Canada) has published in newspapers and periodicals including The Sunday Times, Paris Match and The New York Times. Her first book, Forsaken, was launched at the Noorderlicht festival Act of Faith in 2007.