Painting in secret to defy the Taliban
Shabnam once preferred to use vibrant colours in her paintings. Today, the palette of the 20-year-old artist from Kandahar has shifted to muted tones dominated by blues, whites, and blacks. In one of her recent works, she depicts a woman standing like a weeping willow, her burqa flowing in the wind — a metaphor for the women of Kandahar, confined by reactionary and oppressive social norms.
She was a second-year computer science student at Kandahar University when the Taliban returned to power. Since then, Shabnam has been unable to continue her studies and has devoted herself to painting. However, her artistic creations must be hidden, as the Taliban have banned depictions of living beings in Kandahar. “Sometimes I feel as if the canvas consumes me, yet at other times it soothes me,” Shabnam tells Zan Times. “To the Taliban, painting living beings is sinful. They claim such images will demand life from their creator in the afterlife.”
In addition to banning images of humans and animals, the Taliban have banned television in some provinces. However, due to administrative and political necessities, they have not yet fully eradicated all imagery, a situation that has reportedly caused internal disputes within the group. Recent reports indicate tensions between Sirajuddin Haqqani, Taliban interior minister and the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice over the continued depiction of such images.
Shabnam has loved painting since childhood and hoped to use computer graphics to expand her craft. Before the Taliban’s return, she earned approximately 10,000 afghani a month through commissioned artworks, including calligraphy and miniatures. As a member of Kandahar’s Fine Arts Association, she showcased her work in exhibitions.
“Art was my childhood companion. I always dreamed of creating paintings digitally one day,” Shabnam says. She laments the dissolution of the Fine Arts Association, where about 30 women artists once trained and collaborated. “Before the Taliban, around 30 to 35 women were active in fine arts under the guidance of three teachers. But after their return, we haven’t seen each other again.”
Ansia shares Shabnam’s longing for the days when she could draw freely. The 19-year-old artist from Herat has been creating art for six years and secured a contract for commissioned paintings shortly before the Taliban’s takeover. Her dreams of building a career through art were crushed. “For me, art is spiritual nourishment and peace,” Ansia explained. “Since the Taliban came, the colours in my paintings have darkened, and I feel like my spirit has darkened too.”
In Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, female artists not only face strict bans on painting living beings but also endure family pressures to abandon their art. “I used to paint faces constantly,” Ansia explains to Zan Times. “But after the Taliban returned, my mother often shared painful memories of their first regime and tried to convince me to stop painting portraits. Eventually, I stopped.”
During the republic era, Ansia worked freely and often drew inspiration from Afghan National Army soldiers, whose bravery fascinated her. She fondly recalls a piece she displayed at a Herat exhibition two years before the Taliban’s return. “My subject was the Afghan army. I painted an officer wounded in battle himself, carrying a man on his shoulder to safety. That painting received a lot of appreciation.”
However, when the Taliban came to power, Ansia’s father urged her to hide her paintings. He even burned her portrait of the soldier for fear of repercussions.
Many female artists struggle to keep going today. Mehra, a 20-year-old artist living in Kandahar, wanted to become a professional painter, but her family discouraged her from pursuing art as a career even as she honed her skills. “Since childhood, I have loved painting and calligraphy, even against my family’s wishes,” she shares. “After graduating high school, I learned this craft professionally at the Fine Arts Association. But when the Taliban came, the doors of the association were shut to me and other women artists.” Still, her love of art keeps her painting in the privacy of her home.
Another member of the Kandahar Fine Arts Association, Ubaid Khan, confirmed to Zan Times that women have been barred from entering the association since the Taliban’s takeover. “When the Taliban came, their first act here was to prohibit women’s presence,” he explains. “They declared that women could never participate. Then they began monitoring our work to ensure no depictions of living beings were created.”
The Kandahar Fine Arts Association used to be a thriving space for artists, since its creation 14 years ago by three women and eight men. “Before the Taliban, families sent their daughters to school, and the number of educated women increased in the last years of the republic. Hundreds of young men and women participated in artistic activities in our association,” says Ubaid Khan.
Today, women have been completely driven out of the arts sector in Kandahar. Only a few men continue working, though under heavy restrictions.
Despite these challenges, some women persist. In the solitude of their homes, they continue to pick up their brushes and pencils. But the darkness of the Taliban era is showing up in their creations. “Previously, my paintings were bright and colourful. I would paint women with red lips, beautiful hair, and floral dresses,” reflects Shabnam. “Now, I don’t feel like painting such joyful faces anymore.”
Names have been changed to protect the identity of the interviewees and writer. Asra Athar is the pseudonym of a journalist in Afghanistan.
