Shamsia Hassani : “Art changes people’s minds and people change the world.” (Shamsia)

The photographs in this blog are from a remarkable artist who, through painting, outdoor wall murals and paintings. challenge the people of violence who are ruining countries, destroying the lives of innocent people, caring nothing for the natural world and threatening civilizations.

Initially her concerns were focussed on Afghanistan which is the country of her parents. She was born in Iran in 1988 but the family eventually returned to Afghanistan. When the Taliban took over again, because she was in danger, she fled the country. Not only was she a woman of intelligence but the Taliban, against their own promises, have been persecuting and waging battle against all women. The strides the women had taken in emancipation, progression, education and equality have all but been erased.
Shamsia expressed her feelings against the inequalities women face in Afghanistan but she has  widened it to all places in our world where women, and attacks on human rights, have sought to reduce women to lesser beings to men. Nothing new there but the world has, in most places, moved on and the hard fight for the rights of women has brought a new understanding and even sadness and repentance for how they have been treated. Sadly, the battle continues for a deeper understanding.

It is this movement towards cherishing our common humanity that was helped by Shamsia. After attending a graffiti workshop in Kabul, she used what she had learned to good effect. He wall murals were not dissimilar to Banksy. The street art centred on a woman with shut eyes and no mouth. Shamasai said that “many of my paintings have a recurring character but, most importantly she is a human being.  The eyes are closed, she says, because there is nothing good to see in these violent situations
Afghan women had to exist in a male dominant society and the aim of her art was to give women a voice and a face which showed power, ambition, and a strength to achieve goals. She says that the woman in her art work shows us , “a human being who is proud, loud and can bring positive changes to people’s lives.”

One commentator says, “Her art has inspired thousands of women around the world and has given a new hope to female Afghan artists in the country. She has motivated hundreds of Afghans to develop their creativity through her graffiti festival, art classes, and exhibitions in different countries around the world. Her murals are on the walls of Afghanistan, USA, Italy, Germany, Vietnam, Switzerland, Norway and other countries. Sadly the situation in Afghanistan means that much that was achieved has been destroyed by the Taliban.

Shamsia says that, “The character in my paintings sometimes plays different roles such as a combatant or a refugee with no future. At times, she searches for peace, and sometimes she has no identity whatsoever. She also gets lost in her dreams as well as the pain and sorrow, she struggles with the past and the future but is a patriot who loves her homeland and fights hopelessness.” And who longs for Peace.

Given the situations in the Ukraine, The Holy Land, Afghanistan and Sudan, this desire for peace is shared by so many of us.

The photos of her work that I have used come from a large collection of her paintings. They tell their own story and allow us to interpret what they say to us. If you want to see more or discover more about Shamsia there are plenty of articles on the internet. I have been helped in writing this by an interview she gave to ‘Bored Panda’ and information in The Guardian Newspaper. She has her own website and a lot of her work can be looked at on Instagram. I have referenced her before in this blog on 22^nd April 2022. This was in connection with art and words that she did as her prayer for the Ukraine.

Below is a poem from St John of the Cross which began my thoughts for this article.

If you Love

You might quiet the
whole world for a second
if you pray.

And if you love, if you
really love,
our guns will
wilt.

Attributed to St. John of the Cross

We Are One With You

O God, we are one with you.
You have made us one with you.
You have taught us that if we are open to one another,
 you dwell in us.
Help us to preserve this openness and to fight for it with all our hearts.
Help us to realize that there can be no understanding
where there is mutual rejection.

O God, in accepting one another wholeheartedly, fully, completely,
we accept you, and we thank you, and we adore you, 
and we love you with our whole being,
because our being is your being, our spirit is rooted in your spirit.
Fill us then with love, and let us be bound together with love
as we go our diverse ways, united in this one spirit
which makes you present in the world,
and which makes you witness to the ultimate reality that is love.

Love has overcome. Love is victorious.

– Thomas Merton (1915-1968)

[Mr G]

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