Seamus Murphy on Photographing Patterns Across Cultures

Conversations with Tyler is produced by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. Bridging the gap between academic ideas and real world problems. Learn more at mercatus.org. For a full transcript of every conversation enhanced with helpful links, visit conversationswithtyler.com. Hello, everyone, and welcome back to conversations with Tyler. Today, I am talking with Seamus Murphy, who is an Irish photographer and filmmaker. He has numerous books, including photography of Afghanistan, Russia, America, and Ireland. He has a book of poetry from Afghanistan. He has worked with PJ Harvey, the British popular music star on two albums, including on Let England Shake. He does film as well. He's a hard person to summarize because there is, in fact, no one else like him, and he grew up in the Dublin area. Seamus, welcome. Thank you. Lovely to be here. Just to start with Afghanistan, where you've spent a lot of time recently. Correct? Yes. Is there an optimistic case for that country right now? And if so, what does it look like? I think the optimism that I would have for that country would be the people, and I think I've got a lot of faith in the people. You know, we have this impression of Afghanistan as being very conservative, very, you know, extreme. It's not at all. They're very, they're a very easygoing people, and they've been in the middle of a lot of trouble, usually caused by people on the outside. You know, they're a small country, they're strategically between many powers, and, you know, they've had a lot of problems in their time. I think the optimism I would, I would be looking towards would be the diaspora, I suppose, the people that have, that have left, the people that might be able to do something from outside. They're certainly keeping people alive by sending money back. So I would say also people's love, their love of their country is something special. It's not a sort of city patriotism, it's, it's, it's really, really deep in their veins. And you know, it's one thing to have, you know, problems in your country and, and all the rest of it, but to actually have to leave your country, that's tough for anyone. But I think for Afghans it's particularly tough, because they have such a love for their country. So I would say, you know, the diaspora is probably the because people in in Afghanistan can't do much. You know, they have to go along with whatever the authorities are saying. They're pretty impotent. Is there enough ethnic unity there to build a nation state, or you think the path of progress looks quite different altogether? I think they do get on with each other. I mean, there are tribal differences. Like anywhere, I think people want to get on with each other, and I think it'll be some upstart politician, someone who sees a way to make a profit for themselves, or make a name for …