This Is Afghanistan's First Female Street Artist - Culture Trip

This Is Afghanistan's First Female Street Artist - Culture Trip An Afghan graffiti artist is boldly taking to the streets with a spray can and hope for a peaceful future. Shamsia Hassani, Afghanistan’s first female street artist, has emerged as a spokesperson for women’s rights in Kabul. Lisa Pollman of Art Radar spoke with the artist to find out more about visual arts in the post-conflict capital and her drive to prove art is stronger than war. Born in Iran to Afghan parents, Shamsia Hassani is a street and digital artist working in the country’s complex and conflicted capital, where she returned in 2005 to pursue her education in Fine Art at Kabul University. A pioneer in Kabul’s contemporary art scene, she works to establish annual graffiti workshops across the country and, on a grander scale, to change the way society views women who refuse to conceal their opinions behind a veil of silence. Her work includes ‘Dreaming Graffiti’, a series in which the artist paints or Photoshops colours and images onto digital photographs to explore issues of national and personal security. Q: Please tell us how you began street art in Afghanistan. A: I started to do street art at a graffiti workshop in Kabul in December 2010 when a graffiti artist named Chu came from the United Kingdom to teach us. It [the workshop] was organised by Combat Communications in Kabul. Q: As a pioneer of street art in your country, who or what inspired you? A: After the graffiti workshop, I feel that I can introduce art to people by making graffiti because [by its nature] it is always in an open place. If you have some art exhibition, we cannot invite everyone, so not everyone can come. If we have artwork in an outside place, everyone can enjoy it. I want to colour over the bad memories of war on the walls and if I colour over these bad memories, then I erase [war] from people’s minds. I want to make Afghanistan famous because of its art, not its war. Q: In your opinion, how is street art different than more formal kinds of contemporary art? Is it more or less important? Why? A: In Afghanistan, graffiti is something different. In Europe and other countries, graffiti is something illegal. In Afghanistan, I use it in a different way for a different message, for different ideas. Every kind of art is very good for developing art in Afghanistan. I think that graffiti is better because all people can see it and it is available for all time. This is my idea.