“I feel like my fingers and my pencils have been chained”

Anita

Artist, Herat

A young woman paints a picture of a woman in a burqa

“Prior to the Taliban taking power, I created beautiful paintings with bright colours that depicted the pain, suffering and violence against Afghan women. Sometimes I also illustrated their wonderful dreams. Besides being an artist, I was a teacher and a student in my seventh semester at the Faculty of Fine Arts.

When the Taliban came to power, I felt a sense of destruction. They cast a dark and shadowy cloud over my goals. In fact, my entire artistic life disappeared. I thought the sky of my life and all the colours of my art had turned to black. All my hope was gone. The Taliban have ruined my emotional connection to my art through their restrictions. Now, after 14 years, I am completely alienated from the world of art and painting.

Now, I have no hope of painting and continuing my education. The feelings of bitterness, worthlessness, loss of identity and emptiness have become deeply rooted in me, and my hands no longer have the inspiration to create artistic works. I feel like my fingers and my pencils have been chained.

The Taliban do not allow me to paint anymore; they have closed all doors to this world. They destroy every work of art they come across, and with every painting destroyed, I too am shattered and degenerated.

When the Taliban painted all the walls black, the colours of my life and art also went black. The colours of the rainbow have dimmed in my life, and I no longer see any colours to paint.

Now I see everything in black, and that is the worst thing I have ever experienced and will continue to experience. I believe that if the current situation continues, the future of Afghan women is nothing but devastation.

Despite all these hardships, I struggle through my difficulties. Although these obstacles have closed the wings of my art, I still want to make the effort to fly and reach my goals and dreams. My love for art gives me the fuel to continue my life. I strive to break free from these chains so I can make a difference in the freedom of women in my country.

My fellow women: never lose hope in the ups and downs of life, in the lows and highs. We should never be stopped by obstacles.

I ask the global community to lend us a hand so that we, Afghan women, can also be seen.”

“We continued organizing protests and sit-in strikes to challenge the restrictions”