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News > Culture

Afghanistan: ArtLords Reclaims Kabul with Murals of War Victims

  • Afghan Artlords paint a message on a wall at the American University of Afghanistan in Kabul.

    Afghan Artlords paint a message on a wall at the American University of Afghanistan in Kabul. | Photo: Reuters

Published 21 March 2018
Opinion

ArtLords co-founder, Omaid Sharifi, said the group hopes to pressure warlords to attest to their past crimes and seek forgiveness for their actions.

ArtLords, an Afghan social-arts activist group, have taken their message to the public in the form of giant wall murals, painting the faces of victims killed by suspected warlords. Their work has garnered them threats on social media, as well as direct messages from gunmen that they stop painting.

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"This was a warning shot to everyone that we will not let you sleep at night, we will come after you, we will paint in front of your homes," said Omaid Sharifi, co-founder and president of ArtLords, according to AFP.

Speaking from his studio in the Afghan capital of Kabul, Sharifi emphasized that his group hopes to pressure warlords to attest to their past crimes and seek forgiveness for their actions.

A towering mural of Hamid Barmaki smiling remained on a large public wall near the residence of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a former warlord turned politician who is blamed for her death.

Prior to being designated by the U. S. State Department as a “global terrorist,” Hekmatyar received large sums of money from the United States during the Afghan resistance against the Soviet invasion of the Central Asian country. He also met former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in Downing Street.

Though the mural was mysteriously covered by white paint days later, the portrait marked the beginning of ArtLords campaign.

Sharifi said the project will continue despite threats presented to the group's 45 artists who are paid for their artistic venture.

"The threat is very real. At any moment anything can happen, a bomb can go off," Sharifi said. "Despite all these challenges...we have to take responsibility. Somebody has to do it."

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