Rare Exhibition by Afghan Women Artists

Thursday, 06 March 2008 20:41

KABUL, Afghanistan - A rare exhibition of work exclusively by women artists just wrapped up in Afghanistan, attracting 3,000 visitors over the course of eight days, the Associated Press reports. Just seven years ago, under the hardline Taliban regime, the exhibition might not have been possible, as women were forbidden from leaving the home without a male relative, girls were not allowed to go to school, and creating figurative art was forbidden. The exhibition, held in a high school gymnasium, highlighted artwork by women ages 7 to 26. It travels to the city of Herat next.

"I couldn't paint during the Taliban regime because I didn't have enough material, and I wasn't allowed to go out and buy paint," said 22-year-old Maryam Formuli.

Fareha Ghezal, 19, added, "I was young and couldn't go to the art center to learn because as a girl, I wasn't allowed to go to school."

But the works in the exhibition depict how women are still oppressed in Afghanistan, some of the artists said. "They don't have any role in the selection of the path," Khadija Hashemi, 21, said of her painting of women riding donkeys being led by men on foot. "They don't have the choice to change the path. Instead they just have to keep on moving where the donkeys are led by the men."