Will: Those interested in this part of the world may be accustomed to hearing about our ‘brave boys’ or a ‘Taliban comeback’ but are probably not so used to hearing about international art exhibitions. It is no small wonder then that a friend of ours has just organised a world-class exhibition of contemporary Islamic art in Kabul. She is working with Turquoise Mountain and has managed to attract some of the most prestigious galleries around the world to contribute to an exhibition of contemporary art in the Queen’s Palace in Babur’s Garden. Paintings, graphic design, neon lights, animated film, and installations have been arriving in all sorts of outsized wooden boxes from cities like London, New York, Lahore, Melbourne, and Tehran. The exhibition is called, ‘Living Traditions’ and draws together art from Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran. Each piece of art incorporates elements of traditional Islamic and regional artistic heritage whilst responding to modern challenges of modernisation and political unrest. It is the first event of its kind here and has been funded partly for its role in fostering cultural dialogue as well as exposing young Afghan artists to their own artistic heritage.
The opening ceremony was a curious mix of international gallery glamour and amateur Afghan adventure. The Vice President arrived in a cavalcade of five silver armoured landcruisers, but not before the secret police had cleared the road in a furious frenzy of whistle-blowing, baton-waving, and walkie-talkie hysteria. Numerous ambassadors were driven through the gates at high speed behind blackened windows and surrounded by their close protection teams. Doing his best to keep up was a plucky ice-cream seller. I was in charge of VIP parking along with Imatollah, a delightful and calm man from the local neighbourhood. The Agha Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) has reformed and employed local ‘rough diamonds’ from the area surrounding Babur’s Garden to act as guards. They know every undercurrent of activity in the area and provide an effective guard against local criminality. However, even they were at a loss when the ice-cream seller turned up with his little trolley full of Cornettos and Magnums. The secret service ordered the police to search it for explosives; the police ordered the local guards and they in turn looked to me for guidance. “I’ll search it.” I said, but the trolley was quickly surrounded and in typical fashion, a compromise was struck and the ice-creams were brought in on trays.
Ministers, ambassadors, journalists, and numerous dignitaries circulated between the various rooms. Some sat to watch a short animated film by Jila Peacock on seven poems by Hafez; others gathered around several site specific installations such as Zolaykha Sherzad’s fine silk dress adorned with Qur’anic verse suspended from the ceiling. Of particular interest to me was a set of abstract paintings by Nusra Latif Qureyshi and Mohammad Imran Qureyshi from Lahore, based on elements from the miniature painting tradition. A large painting by Khosrow Hassanzadeh of two Iranian wrestlers (pahlawan) accompanied by different figures from Iranian society asked interesting questions about modern role models. A miniature painting depicting the great Rustam from the Shahmaneh (a Persian epic by Firdausi) as a beast in chains was among the most controversial. The Hazara artist who painted it felt that the dominant story of his childhood had been appropriated and abused by the Taliban. There were speeches by the head of the AKTC (who have restored Babur’s Gardens beautifully), the Vice President, the deputy minister for information and culture and our friend, the Turquoise Mountain Director for Culture. A traditional Afghan lunch was served and people settled on brightly coloured kilims to eat large plates of Kabuli Pilau. Threats of a car bomb encouraged some to leave early. Others mingled and enjoyed the plates of ice cream, which had finally reached their destination.
The Queen’s Palace was built by Abdur Rahman Khan in the 1880s for his wife but had long fallen into disrepair until last year when the AKTC finished restoring it. It is now one of Kabul’s most beautiful sites and comprises three wings set over two floors arranged around a large lawn. It is set against a backdrop of simple mud and concrete houses climbing up the barren and rocky heights of the Sher Darwaza mountain behind. To the front the western suburbs of Kabul are dominated by the large blue dome of an Iranian built mosque and the Paghman mountains beyond. In the next six weeks, 3000 school children will be taken around the exhibition using educational packs that have been put together by Lucy. It will be open to the public at weekend. This morning, there must have been nearly a thousand members of the public who strolled in from the gardens to have a look. Some Afghans I spoke to dismissed the art as ridiculous and only interesting to foreigners. Others were deeply impressed that their artists could put such a professional display together in their own country. It will be interesting in the weeks to come to see how these works of art are received: whether they influence and inspire, or provoke and promote cultural exchange. However it is received, it must be counted a great success in a country that is struggling to emerge from three decades of conflict and is faced with an uncertain future.
No comments:
Post a Comment