15th August 2024 marked the sombre anniversary of the fall of Kabul when the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan
The regime enforced gender apartheid taking away all rights for girls and women and banned music and other forms of creative expression.
Two months later, October 2021, Belfast the capital of Northern Ireland was awarded UNESCO City of Music status.
We are sharing stories of Afghan women that have a connection to Northern Ireland through their music & art.
The artist who had her paintings burnt by the Taliban.
Alina Gawhary escaped Afghanistan after the Taliban burnt her paintings. With help from musician/composer Sadie Harrision, Alina got into Bangladesh. In March 2024 Alina was granted a special visitor visa to come to Northern Ireland as guest speaker at International Women's Day events. Blog about Alina's visit
Alina had to return to Bangladesh where there is now civil unrest.
Alina has now been offered a placement at University of Ulster, Belfast City of Music to study fine arts and she has a fundraiser to help with her study fees and travel to Belfast. If you can please support in a shared victory against the men who tried to take away her freedom
Video: When Alina and Sadie first met in Belfast
Fighting for Women's Freedom with her paintbrush instead of boxing gloves, artist Eqlima paints former boxing champion, Carl Frampton.
"The situation of women and girls here is getting worse day by day, so that over time we lose the little hope we have for life. Even our basic rights of life, such as the right to study, work, and express thoughts, etc., have been taken from us. As a woman visual artist, I am at greatest risk from Taliban rule, and in such a situation, I see my art collapsing. The situation is such that I am not allowed to even draw. .It has happened many times that they have destroyed my paintings and painting tools from house to house and tried to discourage me from working in this field, but despite all this, I still try to do my work with passion. And I want to continue and find a way to improve myself in this field
Because painting is my love and my beautiful and small world, with which I can get away from this miserable situation for a short while, I think the world of colors is the only way for me to deal with the dark and dark thoughts of the Taliban. It was a great pleasure that I drew the face of a famous and well-known sportsman of the western world, Mr. Carl Frampton, for the first time. Despite all the risks. We are both fighters. He uses gloves and flight oppression with my paint brush.
Through drawing this painting, I will show the talent of Afghan girls to the world. After completing this work, I was so happy as if I had been freed from a chain. I thank Mr Carl Frampton for standing in solidarity with me and I am so happy this painting has arrived safe in Belfast for Mr. Carl Frampton to receive I learned Belfast celebrates music and art.
I hope that the day will come when all the girls of my country can freely and safely paint what they have in mind on the canvas. And in the end, I have to thank Mr. Darren Ferguson and his friends, who is a great supporter of mine, because if it wasn't for his efforts, today I and hundreds of girls like me with all our small and big talents would be forgotten and art would be buried in this land.” Eqlima
"Afghan Girl
Zarifa (Afghanistan) who escaped from the Taliban and came to Northern Ireland was invited to take part in a music project with Beyond Skin partners, Feile, Oh Yeah Music Centre and Amps Studio. Encouraged to try writing lyrics for a song, Zarifa applied herself to be a songwriter and became one with the song "Afghan Girl". We connected her to Irish singer/songwriter Eva to sing the song. Quickly they became an amazing music duo performing the song at Oh Yeah Music centre (video link) and receiving a standing ovation at Stormont Parliament Buildings as part of the Mental Health Arts Festival (video link)
In September Zarifa and Eva have been invited to one of the world's most iconic recording studios, Realworld founded by Peter Gabriel. There they will record an EP.
BBC News Article: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ced1ly4vvz6o
Afghan artist starts a business and opens arts studio in Antrim
To date over 400 paintings by Afghan artists, mostly women in Afghanistan painting at risk, have been exported to Belfast. The paintings are then sold locally and internationally with all the money sent back to the artist. We have also been working closely with the music industry aligning artwork to covers of music albums. Example: www.beyondskin.net/the-nightingales-of-afghanistan Contact us for more information. Some examples below.
Previously...
Shortlisted UK 2021 Project of The Year. An international partnership developed by Beyond Skin and Afghanistan National Institute of Music (ANIM), home of the Afghan Women’s Orchestra also known as Ensemble Zohra. As part of the programme current & former students from ANIM are collaborating with young female musicians in Northern Ireland including members of Traditional Arts Partnership. Two music videos were produced.
