When governments restrict creation, guerrilla art gets energised: Afghan artist Amanullah Mojadidi

He is heavily but aesthetically tattooed in French, Sanskrit and Japanese. But that is only the exterior embellishment to the demeanour of prominent U.S.-born Afghan visual artist Amanullah Mojadidi.

The artist, who divides his time between Paris and Kabul, is not exactly a torn soul. On the one hand, he is opposed to the “totalitarianism of the Taliban”, which he describes as “an incredibly restrictive movement.” On the other, he shows measured pragmatism and cautious optimism even as Taliban 2.0 now appears to be firmly ensconced in the power apparatus. The 50-year-old with a brooding persona, piercing eyes and flowing beard has pilloried warlords, Western militias and governments with his tongue-in-cheek yet overt artworks. Credited with playing an important role in the resurgence of art in Afghanistan, he has worked with young Afghans to promote graffiti as art.

Fresh from his return from Italy, where he curated a major art exhibition and public programme on Afghanistan, Mojadidi takes time off to talk about the situation in his home country and how it impacts him. Excerpts:

What do you think Afghanistan will reverberate with — the lilt of the rubab (string instrument that is the mainstay of Afghan classical music), or the shrillness of a fanatic regime? In its earlier avatar, this regime had dynamited out of existence two 6th century statues of Buddha and plundered the national museum.

I think it will settle into something in between. The rush to condemn the Taliban is certainly not without reason, but if we look at other extremely Islamic states in the world (such as Iran or Saudi Arabia), we see places where art and culture are heavily controlled by the state, but nevertheless there is artistic and cultural production taking place. I think once the dust settles, we will eventually see something similar in Afghanistan. What exactly it will look like remains to be seen.

As an artist, how has it impacted your creative pursuit and worldview?

I must admit that I find myself thinking a lot about Nuristan, the last province in Afghanistan to be forcefully converted to Islam in 1895. I’ve painted two works (painting not being something I often use or am very skilled at but it feels right for these works) — one called ‘Nuristani Tree Spirit #1’ and another ‘Nuristani Dancing Man #1’. These are simple paintings. ‘Tree Spirit’ is an abstract rendition of a white entity emerging from between trunk and crown; the animism speaking to an older shamanism that pre-dates Islam in the region. ‘Dancing Man’ is a very tribal, almost cave painting rendition of a naked man dancing. I’m now working on ‘Nuristani Dancing Woman #1’. Their freedom to be nude and dance speaks out to the totalitarianism of the Taliban.

In August last year, UNESCO appealed for the protection of Afghanistan’s cultural heritage. In fact, 12 art trade associations from the U.S. and Europe have joined hands to prevent Afghan art from being trafficked in the West following the Taliban takeover. Do you think there is a real threat?

I don’t think we will see the same kind of attitude as earlier by the Taliban towards Afghanistan’s cultural heritage. Just the other day, the Taliban announced that all Afghan cultural heritage, Islamic and pre-Islamic, is important and must be protected. Are these mere words to appease the international community? Maybe. Only time will tell.

The U.S. in particular, and Western democracies in general, showed incredible pusillanimity by abruptly withdrawing from Afghanistan. There are even reports that the U.S. is working on a road map for according recognition to the Taliban government. There is concern over possible blowback. What’s your take?

What I find interesting about the world’s attitude towards the West, and the U.S. in particular, in Afghanistan is that everyone screams murder when the U.S. invades the country and then everyone screams abandonment when they leave. Could they have left differently so the withdrawal impact might have been more manageable? Yes. But in my opinion, even if they withdrew slowly five years ago or five years from now, the result would have been the same.

Afghanistan’s Ministry of Education directed all secondary schools to resume classes from September 18 last year. However, it is ominously silent on a return date for girls, which is contrary to the promises made by the Taliban. Women are being barred from going to work, and they have staged demonstrations to seek employment and education. What will happen, you think?

I think this is perhaps going to be one of the issues that will need the closest attention. The Taliban just banned forced marriage in the country, and so this could be a sign that they are not going to work entirely against the rights of women. But what they perceive as the rights of women, and whether education and work are part of those rights, remains to be seen.

Do you find any fundamental difference between the Taliban in 1995-2001 and its latest incarnation? Ostensibly, Taliban 2.0 is behaving more responsibly. However, it may be mere tokenism.

No doubt, there are differences . But they will certainly still remain an incredibly restrictive movement , and will no doubt limit and/ or turn back many things that have taken place in the past 20 years. However, as I said earlier, I think when the dust settles, there will be something different. It may not be what we want, but it won’t be what we expect either.

You have said earlier that religion is losing its integrity, becoming less pure. How far is that relevant in the context of Afghanistan?

I don’t think less pure is really accurate, but rather less than what it was originally meant to be: each person’s individual capacity to communicate with a universal spirit. I think the biggest problem with Afghanistan and any other Islamic state in the world is that they are exactly that — Islamic states. As far as I’m concerned, a government should be secular, its people should be whatever they want to be religiously, and practise whatever makes sense to them.

Did you ever face a direct threat from the Taliban? Have you exhibited your work in Afghanistan? You said you are indulging in a sort of guerrilla art. What does it mean?

I never had threats from the Taliban, but did have a small issue with the government for which I had to keep a low profile so they wouldn’t find me until it passed. I think when governments set restrictions on creation, guerrilla art becomes energised. For this reason, I am actually very curious to see what might come to be created under the current Taliban regime.

The interviewer is a Delhi-based journalist and media consultant.