From Mines to Masterpiece

In August 2025, funded by the Tavolozza Foundation, Jonah X travelled to the wild mountains of Badakhshan, Afghanistan, location of the Sar – e Sang lapis mines.

Ben Timberlake stands in front of an off-road vehicle on a dirt road in a mountainous area with clear skies. 
From Kabul it was a three day drive up into the mountains of Badakhshan. The passes were around 4000m. The air was thin and the colours intense.
A man standing on rocky terrain overlooking a river and lush green valley surrounded by mountains under a clear blue sky. 
This is Hayder who led the expedition.
Ben Timberlake sitting outdoors with mountains in the background during dusk, next to a motorcycle and a car. 
We’d rise early and set off after dawn prayers.
A man with a beard and scarf standing next to a donkey on a rocky mountain trail, with two children in colorful clothing walking behind him in a mountainous landscape. 
Badakhshan is one of the most remote areas of Afghanistan but also the most welcoming.
Scenic view of mountains, valley with greenery, and a person standing on a trail. 
This is a Tugay forest. They survive in the arid, high altitudes from floods rather than rainwater. They are rich ecosystems hugging the rivers. Badakhshan has incredible wildlife, from Marco Polo Sheep to Snow Leopards.
A vast mountainous landscape with brown and gray rugged hills and snow-capped peaks under a clear blue sky. 
This is Kuh-e Bandaka, one of the highest peaks in Afghanistan. Behind it is the valley with the Lapis mines.
A group of men gathered closely inside a room with green walls, sitting on the floor on a patterned carpet. One man in the center is kneeling and holding a large rock of lapis lazuli, while the others watch and listen attentively. 
Negotiations took hours over a lot of food. In Badakhshan the main danger to a traveller is being overfed.
A man dressed in traditional Middle Eastern clothing standing in a mountainous desert landscape with rocky cliffs and snow-capped peaks in the background. 
A guard, Esmatullah, with the mine above. For 9000 years humans have visited this tiny cleft in the mountain to hunt for the finest azure in the world. It has been found in the royal tombs of Sumeria and Egypt. It has been wielded by Leonardo and Michelangelo and Giotto.
Group of men sitting on the floor in a room with green walls, some wearing traditional clothing and turbans, some with beards, seated along the perimeter of the room. 
This is Haji Abdul Qadir, a Taliban commander, who protects the mine, and his soldiers. He was a proud local man and the epitome of Badakhshan hospitality.
A man with a beard, wearing a hat and traditional clothing, smiling and holding a piece of lapis inside a rustic room with wooden shelves and stone walls. 
One of the mine guards, the story of Lapis in world culture is a source of deep pride.
A man standing in a wheat field with mountains in the background, wearing traditional clothing and a head covering. 
We travelled in September when the crops were being harvested before the long winter ahead.
Two men standing in the back of a blue truck, with one leaning on the side and smiling, and the other resting his arms on the top of the truck, under a large leafy tree with mountains in the background. 
Two travelling salesmen. They’d barter tea, soap, even bubblegum, for the crops of the villages they’d pass through.
A person with aged hands wearing a blue ring is using a chisel on a large stone with blue engravings, possibly a piece of artwork or a gemstone, in a setting with a patterned carpet. 
A 30kg block on ‘junduk’ grade (±grade 2) lapislazuli from Sar-e-Sang mine, in Badakhshan.
Close-up of blue powder and a partially visible utensil or tool with blue lighting. 
“The deeper the blue becomes, the more strongly it calls man towards the infinite, awakening in him a desire for the pure and, finally, for the supernatural …” Kandinsky.
A tube of Jonah x Blue oil paint by Cranfield Colours resting horizontally on a white surface, with a circular swirl of blue oil paint on the surface beneath it. 
Jonah X’s first batch of True Blue ultramarine paint for Project Blue.
Photo: Simon Buxton