In a dimly lit room illuminated by a pair of red lamps, eight-year-old Zeynep waits to see photographs she has taken, now trapped as shadows and silhouettes on a roll of film. “How big is your curiosity?” asks her mentor, 40-year-old photographer Amar Kilic, as he develops the negatives in a sink. “As big as the world,” she replies. Zeynep, 8-year-old, looks at a camera film during a workshop held as part of Fotohane Darkroom project in Mardin, southeastern Turkiye, on June 13, 2026. — AFP Originally from the southeastern province of Mardin, Zeynep is among eight children taking part in a two-month analogue photography workshop for local and migrant youth near Turkiye’s borders with Iraq and Syria. The project, called Fotohane Darkroom, started in Mardin in 2024, by Kilic and Syrian photographer and educator Serbest Salih. In Turkish, Arabic, Kurdish and Persian, Fotohane means “house of photo”, a name chosen by the children. Child...
Beneath the scorching sun in the Sindh mango belt, labourers balance on tree branches, working at a swift pace to throw the freshly picked fruit into sacks held ready by farmhands waiting below. Though mango season is well underway, far less of the fruit will be bound for the lucrative export market than usual, with an agriculturally dependent economy caught in the crosshairs of the Middle East crisis that the government has helped mediate. An initial deal between the warring sides announced by Islamabad this week has come too late for this mango season, which began in June in Sindh. Mango traders told AFP they expect export sales to fall at least 30 per cent this year due to dampened demand in key markets, including the Gulf, and soaring shipping costs. Adding to the financial pain, local households struggling with a spike in inflation emanating from the regional crisis are holding off on buying the fruit, depressing domestic sales. ...