Gahnama-e-Hunar
Molly Kleiman
The Taliban gutted Afghanistan of its museums, monuments, artists, and dissidents. Under their rule (1996-2001) visual arts, music, television, photographs of people, and magazines were deemed illegal. Peshawar, Pakistan, a historical trading post right over the border from Afghanistan, became a center for refugees?Human Rights watch reported that by 2001 more than 2 million Afghans had fled to the city. Rahraw Omarzad, along with a few other Afghan artists and critics, began Gahnama-e-Hunar, the only contemporary art magazine in Afghanistan. Upon his return to Kabul after the fall of the Taliban, Omarzad opened the Center for Contemporary Art Afghanistan (CCAA).
Molly Kleiman: How did the magazine begin?
Rahraw Omarzad: I went to Peshawar along with many artists. There are not a lot of us?artists were not allowed to do visual arts. We started the magazine as a reaction against this. We put out the first issue in 2000, the second 2002, the third in 2004. The first issue we published only about the visual arts?painting, drawing and sculpture. Artists living outside of Afghanistan said we should be more open?so, for the second issue we added music, theater and cinema.
MK: Was it difficult to find people willing to take the risk of submitting to an arts publication?
RO: Many writers were worried about joining the magazine. And artists weren?t ready to interview with us. They feared they would bring attention to themselves, their families. Some said: If you start this magazine, you will make a problem for other Afghan artists living here, in Peshawar. But after three or four meetings at my house people changed their minds.
MK: Was there any retaliation?
RO: We thought there would be. But after the first issue, there wasn?t any reaction from the Taliban. We published a limited number of magazines. And we just gave them to Afghan artists, in Peshawar and in Kabul also. We didn?t talk about the Taliban in the magazine. Just art. We even had an interview with a member of the Taliban. We asked about the changes they had made. We asked, why did you change the name of The Faculty of Fine Art and put the department under the Faculty of Language. They answered: you couldn?t do music, art, cinema. The activities of the Faculty were limited. The number of students and activities performed in the department were very small. It was true?the Faculty was only about ten people.
MK: How have things have changed since 2001?
RO: For 25 years, we were separated from the world. Afghan artists did not have a chance to test their knowledge of the world. Today artists are still doing traditional art. From 80 years ago until now, there has been no change: same technique, same style. But activities grow better day-by-day. And artists are hopeful and active. Now artists are looking to new possibilities, new ways to express their ideas.
I am interested in conceptual art, using different materials. People used to think that a painter should do only paintings using brushes and paint. Now there is more flexibility.
MK: Afghanistan has a Pavilion at the Venice Biennale this year for the first time. Were you involved with that project?
RO: I did meet with the people at the Italian Embassy. But another man was chosen as the curator because he is living in Germany. He has experience with West.
MK: During the 1990s, many artists and intellectuals, like yourself, were forced to flee Afghanistan. Are people returning? Is there any tension between those who left, those who stayed and those who are returning?
RO: Artists who are living outside of Afghanistan are not really Afghan Artists. One man who I met on my trip to Germany could not even speak with me?he knew only German. I met with some artists in Germany who were from Afghanistan, but their painting, their style, it is not Afghan. Exhibitions should give a chance to people who are living here.
MK: What about the art that is being created in Afghanistan?what are some of the recurring topics you see in the work of young Afghan artists at the CCAA?
RO: One issue is the basic problem that everyone wants to do something for himself. Another is that Afghan women are under the control of men?they still don?t have the opportunity to study. Another, more generally, is about the old system of education in Kabul, which is one of copying. Our faculty is trying to change that. It is difficult to change a system that has been here for 80 years. But young artists are open and ready for change. They are opening doors, welcoming people from outside, going outside to learn new ways to express their feelings.
MK: Is this case in small pockets of activity or is it widespread?
RO: I am speaking only of Kabul. In Kabul the situation is very different than it is in the provinces. There are only two Faculties of fine arts in Afghanistan. And no art centers outside of Kabul. At the CCAA there is no official place for exhibitions, just some offices that we are using. That is one problem in all Afghanistan: no galleries. It is especially hard with large paintings?there is no space to show them. The government is more open to established artists. It is hard to get support for young artists. But now they are starting to believe.
