Art, Fatana Baktash Arifi

http://www.embassyofafghanistan.org/07.16.2007newsarifi.html

http://www.embassyofafghanistan.org/07.06.2007newsartist.html

''Arifi, who prefers not to give her age, grew up in a Kabul that was vastly different from the war-torn capital that suffered under an oppressive Islamic regime.

In the 1970s, the city was a cosmopolitan metropolis with bustling cafes and lush gardens. Many women eschewed the restrictive burqa, moving around the city bare-headed.

Arifi's father, Mohammad, was an animal-skin trader and progressive thinker who encouraged all his six children to attend school. He especially nurtured their artistic talents, providing Arifi with rolls of paper and other art supplies.

Then came the Soviet invasion in 1979.
"The tragedy begins from there," Arifi recalled. "For three nights there were helicopters and planes, strange noises in the sky."
She said she will never forget the look on her neighbors' faces. "It was like somebody had died," Arifi said. "All the happiness gone from their mouths."
Although many of her countrymen fled, her family persevered during several more years of fighting, a period during which she studied for her master's degree in fine arts from Kabul University while bomb blasts shook the classrooms.

When a Stinger missile landed near their house one day in 1994, the family finally decided to leave, abandoning everything.

Arifi wrapped up a few possessions in a cloth, including a pen-and-ink drawing of Abraham Lincoln she did as a schoolgirl, and the family escaped on foot over the mountains into Pakistan.''

delete reply acousticeagle wrote on Sep 13, '10 It is interesting that this artist has used bright colour to produce works that are thought-provoking or else create a feeling for the viewer. The one at the bottom is in shapes, is bright and has shadows and tells a story as well.

delete reply fransformation wrote on Sep 12, '10 Wonderful art and touching story....thank you for sharing this remarkable artist with us today.

delete reply nemo4sun wrote on Sep 12, '10 moving story and art wonder how many potential greats in all fields are lost because of war poverty and oppression

delete reply greenwytch wrote on Sep 12, '10 amazing story and fabulous art. thanks.

delete reply starfishred wrote on Sep 12, '10 wonderful loretta wonderful---

delete reply mitchylr wrote on Sep 12, '10 Her artwork is wonderful, particulalrly the colourful semi-abstracts. What happened to Kabul is similar in a way to Beirut. Once known as the 'Paris of the Middle East', years of civil war reduced it to virtually a rubble heap.

delete reply animelcaramel wrote on Sep 11, '10 Thank you very much for sharing her paintings and her story. I wish she was smiling in the pic...

delete reply ruraldiva wrote on Sep 11, '10 What a refreshing glimpse at the wonderful work. Thank you.

delete reply kathyinozarks wrote on Sep 11, '10 I love the artwork too, thanks for sharing her story

delete reply bennett1 wrote on Sep 11, '10 And thus it began in 1979. What a tragedy!! (Of course it began before then, but that was a new chapter.) The artwork is wonderful. I especially like the stone structure.