Afghan Dreamers – A Book Project Needs Your Help to Launch

    Musician and filmmaker, Ariana Delwari

                                                                                                                                            photo credit:  Jawad Jalali/ Afghan Eyes

Afghanistan is probably best known in the West for its poverty, oppression, terrorism, and ongoing conflict.  It’s not untrue, but its not all that it is.  Against this backdrop, are the dreamers and visionaries.   Artists, musicians, innovators, activists, media moguls, and politicians.  Just like any other country – the dreamers and the free thinkers are often those whose stories are quieter than the stories of violence and anger that shout more loudly.  That doesn’t make them less powerful.

A Garden of Photography for Women in Kabul

Women were a rarity at the three public exhibitions in Afghanistan.  While many families attended Babur Gardens, only a few saw the exhibition in Istalif and the Kabul Zoo.  Therefore, it was a pleasure to bring the exhibition to the Women’s Garden in the heart of Kabul.

A Space for Art Emerges in Kabul

Afghanistan is not the place you think of for emerging artists and activist culture.  Yet few countries in the world are more ripe for an artistic scene.  Just sit for a few hours over coffee at The Venue, a coffeeshop turned artist refuge, surrounded by  the work of artists like Shamsia and Kabir, and you can literally feel the pulse of an artistic heartbeat.  Just in side the entrance is the artist statement spray painted on the steel doors.  Our table had members of the Afghan metal band, District Unknown, visiting Swiss artists, graffiti artist, Shamsia, and an inspiring ex-pat that is supporting the vision of creating more space for Afghan voice.

Street Art Amazes at Kabul’s Babur Gardens and the Kabul Zoo

Over 1,000 Afghans came through to Babur Gardens on the second day of Eid celebrations – making for enormous crowds at our first Kabul exhibition. The majority of the crowds were men and boys, but families did arrive and several groups of women joined the throngs. It was a lively event with many Afghans taking their photos in front of the images with cellphone cameras.

‘Streets of Afghanistan’ Exhibit in Istalif

Yesterday we premiered the Streets of Afghanistan exhibition in the village of Istalif, a remote village in the Shomali Plain north of Kabul. Four years ago, I envisioned a collaborative photography exhibition between Afghan photographers and Western photographers that had deep affection for this country. Instead of a gallery show, I imagined surrounding the viewer in the image to bring the art off the wall, and into the viewers world.  I wanted to see people’s reaction as they interacted with lifesize images and hoped that it would change American perspectives of Afghanistan – that if we saw it as a country with a beautiful spirit and culture that we would be more invested in it from a humanitarian perspective.

Yesterday I saw that vision come full circle as we brought the exhibition TO Afghanistan, among Afghans themselves to surround them with the beauty and spirit of their country and communities.  28 photographs lines the market streets outside of the mosque on the first day of Eid in the village of Istalif and the reaction was nothing short of amazing.