The subject of a recent art exhibition in Herat city was women’s status in Afghanistan. Given how the Taliban are trying to force women and the arts out of public view, the exhibition’s organizers held their show in secret, hidden from the eyes of the Taliban.
On Monday, five artists displayed 30 works of art, including paintings and photographs. Fewer than 20 people were invited by the organizers to see the works. (Names in this article have been changed to protect the identity of the interviewees.)
As Freshta, the organizer of the event, explains to Zan Times, the Taliban forbid activists and students to hold an event focusing on women’s rights, including any program in honour of the female students who were among the victims of the suicide bombing at the Kaaj educational centre in Kabul. This exhibition did just that, focusing on the voice of women in the past year who were deprived of education, activity, work, and even the right to a peaceful life.
In a corner of the exhibition was a painting of a woman in a white shroud. It was one of five on display that had been created by Afsana, an 18-year-old student. She tells Zan Times, “The painting of this shrouded woman is, to my mind, the most significant. With this painting, I wanted to convey that the life of an Afghan woman nowadays is like death.”
Another painting shows a woman holding a guitar under a burqa. “The message of this painting is that many Afghan female artists have to live anonymously and under unwanted cover due to the suffocation in society,” explains its artist, Somaya.
Freshta, says all the works in her exhibition share a message for the Taliban: “You cannot exclude women from society and you have to accept their rights, including the right for girls to attend school, to live without worries, and to work freely.”
She urges the international community, including the United Nations, “Don’t keep silent about what is happening to Afghan women.”
Within a month of taking power last year, Taliban banned unapproved gatherings and demonstrations, often violently suppressing them. In addition, the arts has been a focus of the Taliban’s repression: many schools and galleries, especially those run by women, have been forced to close, often after being ransacked. And as of this autumn, university entry examinations no longer have a fine arts option for women.
