With each passing day, there are more and more distressing reports coming from Afghanistan such as stories of the Taliban going door to door looking for those on their blacklist. As the threat to safety and basic human rights increases, women and girls are amongst the worst affected. And the biggest worry for men, women, and children unable to leave, is the brutality that the fairer sex is likely to face, given the way things were during the Taliban’s last rule.
In light of this tragedy, Afghanistan’s first female street artist, Shamsia Hassani, took to social media to share her heart-wrenching creations that encompass her state of mind, emotions, and the flight of Afghan women.
Back in 2013, during an interview, the 23-year-old artist, said, “In the past, women were removed from society and they wanted women to stay only at home and wanted to forget about women. Now, I want to use my paintings to remind people about women. I have changed my images to show the strength of women, the joy of women. In my artwork, there is lots of movement. I want to show that women have returned to Afghan society with a new, stronger shape. It’s not the woman who stays at home. It’s a new woman. A woman who is full of energy, who wants to start again. You can see that in my artwork, I want to change the shape of women. I am painting them larger than life. I want to say that people look at them differently now.”
With the situation seeming dire for women, Hassani’s work reflects the mood and sentiment of the current situation—the colour seems to have been stripped away. Scroll through her Instagram page (@shamsiahassani), and you will find that every piece, connects to the next, telling the story of the plight women are likely to face, and her current state of despair. In fact, with titles like Nightmare (one piece depicting the Taliban as dark figures emerging from the shadows), and Death to Darkness (the picture showing a young girl crying over the daffodil in the fallen black pot of wishes), the young artist is sending out a message to the world that despite menace is looming over Afghanistan, she will not be silenced.
However, Hassani’s work speaks volumes and is ensuring the world knows that the voices of Afghan women will continue to be heard. What’s more, she seems to be creating these moving pieces from her studio in Kabul.
Born as a refugee in Iran in 1998 when the Taliban was still in control of Afghanistan, Hassani returned to her home country in 2005, with the intention of making a difference, hoping to use her art to cover the wounds of war.