This is Adelaide…the TV journalist who survived the Taliban
Photographer Alex Frayne has been capturing SA’s Afghan community for nearly a decade, and today celebrates one of their leaders who made Adelaide home after fleeing Afghanistan twice.
Mursal Jamshedi was born in Afghanistan and forced to flee as a child.
She walked with her family for four days across the mountains to Pakistan, where she grew up and eventually worked as a TV journalist hosting popular live music and cooking shows.
But working as a journalist and trying to film in Kabul put her life at risk again.
The authorities in Afghanistan signalled they would never accept a female journalist in her own country and threats were made against her, she claimed.
Mursal finally migrated with her family to Australia in 2015, her new home. She says her favourite early memory revolves around the Woodville Town Hall and the citizenship ceremony which began a new chapter in her life.
She founded the Afghan Culture Association of SA in 2018 to promote her culture and empower women through fashion shows and cultural events. Mursal was recognised with the Governor’s Multicultural Award in the Volunteer category for 2024.
Alex Frayne photographed Mursal in 2022, using analogue 6×6 Kodak TX film.
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“I am fortunate to have been asked by the Afghan Community to serve as their official photographer for nearly a decade now,” Frayne says.
“It has given me insight to a community of brilliant individuals who have seen the worst aspects of humanity; and yet these people believe in a better future in Australia, one that at its heart involves community.”
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