When governments restrict creation, guerrilla art becomes active: Afghan artist Amanullah Mojadidi

He has heavily but beautifully tattooed in French, Sanskrit and Japanese. But it is only an outlandish embellishment of the demeanor of prominent US-born Afghan visual artist Amanullah Mojadidi.

The artist who splits his time between Paris and Kabul is not exactly a torn soul. On the one hand, he opposes “Taliban authoritarianism”, which he describes as “an incredibly restrictive movement”. On the other hand, he shows measured pragmatism and cautious optimism, while Taliban 2.0 now appears to be firmly tied into the power system. The 50-year-old, with a rugged personality, prying eyes and flowing beard, has stunned warlords, western militias and governments with his tongue-in-cheek yet articulate artifacts. Credited with playing a key role in the resurgence of art in Afghanistan, he has worked with young Afghans to promote graffiti as an art form.

After returning from Italy, where he organized a major art exhibition and public event on Afghanistan, Mozadidi takes time to talk about the situation in his country and how it affects him. Part:

What do you think Afghanistan will resonate with – the sound of the rubab (the string instrument that is a mainstay of Afghan classical music), or the acrimony of a hardline regime? In its earlier incarnation, this regime had taken out of existence two 6th-century Buddha statues and plundered the National Museum.

I think it will settle something in the middle. The rush to condemn the Taliban is certainly not without reason, but if we look at other highly Islamic states in the world (such as Iran or Saudi Arabia), we see places where art and culture are heavily controlled by the state, But still there is artistic and cultural production taking place. I think once the dust settles, we will eventually see something similar in Afghanistan. What it will actually look like remains to be seen.

As an artist, how has this influenced your creative pursuit and worldview?

I must admit that I find myself thinking a lot about Nuristan, the last province of Afghanistan, which was forcibly converted to Islam in 1895. I have painted two works (painting is not something I use often or am very skilled but it seems perfect for these works) – one ‘Nuristani Tree Spirit #1’ and the other ‘Nuristani Dancing Man’ #1 is called. These are simple paintings. ‘Tree Spirit’ is an abstract rendering of a white entity protruding from between the trunk and the crown; Animism is speaking to an old shaman that pre-dates Islam in the region. The ‘Dancing Man’ is a very tribal, almost cave painting in which a naked man is dancing. I am now working on ‘Nuristani Dancing Woman #1’. Their freedom to be naked and to dance speaks volumes of the totalitarianism of the Taliban.

In August last year, UNESCO appealed for the protection of Afghanistan’s cultural heritage. In fact, 12 art trade unions from the US and Europe have joined hands to stop the smuggling of Afghan art to the West after the Taliban takeover. Do you think there is any real danger?

I don’t think we will see the same attitude by the Taliban to the cultural heritage of Afghanistan. On the same day, the Taliban declared that all Afghan cultural heritage, Islamic and pre-Islamic, is important and must be protected. Are these just words to please the international community? Maybe. Only time will tell.

The United States in particular, and Western democracies in general, showed incredible hypocrisy by abruptly withdrawing from Afghanistan. There are also reports that the US is working on a road map to recognize the Taliban government. There is concern over the potential setback. What do you have to do?

What I find interesting about the world’s attitude towards the West, and especially in the US, in Afghanistan, is that when the US invades the country everyone kills and when it leaves everyone is going to abandon. screams for. Could they have left differently so that the withdrawal effect was more manageable? Yes. But in my opinion, if they had retreated more slowly five years ago or five years from now, the result would have been the same.

Afghanistan’s Ministry of Education instructed all secondary schools to resume classes from September 18 last year. However, it is ominously silent on the date of the girls’ return, contrary to promises made by the Taliban. Women are being prevented from going to work, and they have demonstrated in search of employment and education. What will happen, do you think?

I think this is probably going to be one of the issues that will need the most attention. The Taliban have banned forced marriage in the country, and so this could be a sign that they are not going to work against women’s rights altogether. But what they see as women’s rights, and whether education and work are part of those rights, remains to be seen.

Do you find any fundamental difference between the Taliban in 1995-2001 and its latest incarnation? Clearly Taliban 2.0 is behaving more responsibly. However, this could only be tokenism.

Of course, there are differences, But they will certainly still remain an incredibly restrictive movement., And that will no doubt limit and/or set back many of the things that happened over the past 20 years. However, as I said before, I think when the dust settles, something different will happen. It may not be what we want, but it may not be what we expect.

You have said earlier that religion is losing its integrity, becoming pure. To what extent is this relevant in the context of Afghanistan?

I don’t think less pure is really accurate, but rather less than what it was originally supposed to be: each person’s individual capacity to communicate with the universal spirit. I think the biggest problem with Afghanistan and any other Islamic state in the world is that they are exactly the same – the Islamic State. As far as I am concerned, a government should be secular, its people should be who they want to be religiously, and should practice whatever makes sense to them.

Have you ever faced a direct threat from the Taliban? Have you showcased your work in Afghanistan? You said that you indulged in some kind of guerrilla art. what does this mean?

I’ve never received threats from the Taliban, but I had a small issue with the government that required me to keep a low profile so they couldn’t find me until it passed. I think when governments ban creation, guerrilla art gets activated. For this reason, I am really curious to see what might happen under the current Taliban regime.

The interviewers are Delhi-based journalists and media consultants.