The First Female Afghan Street Artist’s 30 Heartbreaking Works

Following the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, many Afghans are unsure how their lives and safety would be affected.

However, it can be tough for an outsider like me to make sense of it and truly comprehend what these folks are going through, so I must seek out someone who can explain.

Shamsia Hassani, a painter who taught at Kabul University, is regarded as Afghanistan’s first street artist. Hassani’s paintings don’t merely depict the role of women in a male-dominated culture, whether she’s working on a canvas or the wall of an abandoned bombed-out structure. They also give insight into the struggle between light and darkness that has subjugated the area she considers home.

More info: shamsiahassani.net | Instagram 

Meet Shamsia, an Afghan painter who has taught at Kabul City University and is widely regarded as the country’s first nice street artist.

She entered 2010 after attending a graffiti workshop hosted by CHU, a British artist.

Hassani has now created her own style, painting her signature character, a woman with her eyes closed, all throughout the country.

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

#6

#7

#8

#9

#10

#11

#12

#13

#14

#15

#16

#17

#18

#19

#20

#21

#22

#23

#24

#25

#26

#27

#28

#29

#30

#31

#32

I recall that Afghans were not permitted to work in Iran only due to their nationality. Afghans were taught that they didn’t need authorization from the government to find work, therefore my parents were in a lot of trouble. But I was a kid and didn’t get it.”

Shamsia’s life eventually led her back to Afghanistan. In 2010, she attended a graffiti class organised in Kabul by Combat Communications, which led her down a path she is still on a decade later. I attended the workshop with nine Berang colleagues. CHU, a graffiti artist from the United Kingdom, was invited to conduct the event by Combat Communications.

According to Shamsia, CHU’s lectures comprised theory, practical work, and presentations by many artists from throughout the world. For the first time, we learned graffiti there. We learned about spray painting techniques and how to paint large scale drawings on the wall as the course progressed.