ArtLords

The world looked on in disbelief as the Taliban posed with their weapons in the presidential palace in Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul.  There has been a collective gasp of horror among the Afghan diaspora. They watched with disappointment, anger and deep sadness at the rise of the Taliban. As Afghans living in Afghanistan, the return of the Taliban marks yet another regime of blood, violence and the death of young men’s and women’s dreams. 

The working conditions for artist members of civil society of Afghanistan and organizations like ArtLords www.artlords.co was not easy in the last 20 years. ArtLords artists worked under consistent fear of attacks by the Taliban. When we were going out of our houses in the morning, we were not sure we are coming back alive. We would change our routes, our vehicles and the places that we were sleeping. Even with our best attempts to stay safe, we still lost many artists and activists.  For example, three members of ArtLords all were brutally killed by Improvised Explosive Devices.  ArtLords artists received multiple death threats from the Taliban due to the messages they put out through their work.

ArtLords artists were threatened with kidnapping, suicide attacks, and harassment by the Taliban and their supporters.  We also faced off against and called out the corruption at the highest level of the Government of Afghanistan. Struggling to do our work through the indifference, arrogance and corruption of the Afghan government, the international community and local officials was part of our daily life. There were many days that we would receive hate messages from those whose benefited from practices of violence, corruption and greed that our art spoke out against. 

It was a toxic environment. But ArtLords was a blessing for the city. We provided shelter and an alternative to hatred, anger and rumours. Our murals and performances in the parks provided a place to heal, relax and take a moment for yourself and your loved ones to enjoy. 

We loved our work. We never ever dreamed of giving up. We had consciously decided to do this work. We knew that we had to do our part. It was our country and our responsibility. We felt the pain and suffering of our people, and we aimed to help where we can with our art gallery, art therapy sessions, music concerts and our murals created with members of the public. 

By August 16th, the Taliban established their control over the city, the Afghan government collapsed, and the US forces began an emergency evacuation of its citizens. We were painting a mural in Kabul the day that the Taliban took over the capital. The recent murals of ArtLords focused on empathy, unity, tolerance, and inclusive peace in Afghanistan. It was another routine day for ArtLords. We had sketched the mural earlier and we had started painting it with the fellow citizens and anyone who were passing by the street on that day.  

The first act of Taliban, even before announcing their cabinet, was to destroy ArtLords murals and put their own slogans and propaganda messages over them. They then burned ArtLords’ galleries throughout the provinces. Knowing they were being hunted, most of the artists destroyed their own art pieces to try and remain unknown.  In all of this is that we lost many beautiful souls. At times we lost our human dignity as some of us fled and others went into hiding. We lost our home and our vision of our country. Most of us are still in Afghanistan living in fear of the Taliban. 

 ArtLords began seven years ago. ArtLords is a global grassroots movement of artivists motivated by the desire to pave the way for social transformation and behaviour change through employing the soft power of art and culture. 

ArtLords continues its global advocacy for Afghanistan’s artists, activists and cultural heritage. This is the not the end of our story. 

Omaid Sharifi, Co-Founder and President

ArtLords

All images courtesy the artist.
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https://www.artlords.co/