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In Afghanistan, Creative Arts Emerge from Shadows of Taliban Era
Monday, June 24, 2002
(2:04 PM ET)
By Tini Tran
Associated Press Writer

"We knew if they caught us, they would put us in jail or punish us. But it was my responsibility. I had a small opportunity and I used it. I was not afraid. Whether they caught us or not, I had to do this," Mohammed Hashem, head of the Ghlam Mohammed Miuminagi Art Center, said. Working for weeks on end, the three men's daring rescue mission saved some 80 pieces from sure destruction.

KABUL, Afghanistan -- AP
His favorite pieces are the ones he painted of
his family -- his grandmother's well-worn face, his father's worried eyes, his mother's gentle smile.

But those portraits remained hidden in his home for years, where Sayed
Ahmed Zabir worked in secret because the fundamentalist Taliban rulers
believed human images were unholy.

"When I saw the difficulties of my people, I wanted to show the world what was happening through my paintings. I wanted to show my work publicly but I could not," said the 25-year-old newly hired art teacher. "Now I can do what I want."

In the six months since the ruling Taliban were ousted from power, the
creative arts scene in Afghanistan has emerged with all the pent-up energy of its long-frustrated artists.

Music, painting and films are seeing a slow rebirth as a nation starved of its culture, and art begins the slow process of reclaiming its creative
birthright.

"Artists are free now. People are looking for a way to express themselves, their ideas, their feelings. Under the Taliban, we did not have that right," said Mohammed Hashem, 38, who heads the Ghlam Mohammed Miuminagi Art Center, Kabul's main government-funded non-university art school.
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2002 © The Associated Press.

Dan