Exhibiting hope and creating social inclusion in our own ways— an art exhibition by the Afghan Youth of South Australia
About the exhibition
A while ago, we heard a document created by young women at the Muslim Women’s Association of South Australia. It was called, ‘We try not to take people’s hate into our hearts’. When we heard these young women’s stories we said:
“It’s amazing! Fantastic! We loved it. Thank you for sharing your words! We are a group of young Afghanis, both young women and young men. Your words made a good contact with our lives. The experiences were really familiar. Some of us are artists and photographers. We talked about how some of your stories could be turned into art or paintings or drawings. Would you be interested in this? Maybe we could work on this together?”
And so we have! In this exhibit you will find our photography, paintings, calligraphy and songs. We hope you like them!
Asif Hussaini is currently Studying in Marden Senior College. Asif has almost six years of art experience in Pakistan. He was student of Hasan Ali Hathif. There was a special class of art which he used to go.
Browse the exhibition and learn about the art works and artists below
Faces in my head — Zahra Hosseini
Pastel on paper
‘My works are my feeling about life, especially in Afghan families. Suddenly I got to draw a face. While I was drawing I thought about a woman that is in a frustration and showed that it’s a sad story of any woman who cannot be equal with the men around the world.’
About the artist
Zahra Hosseini is a 19 year old young female artist from Afghanistan. Zahra arrived in Australia one year ago. Zahra joined Afghan Youth of SA (AYSA) a few month after arriving. Zahra started painting through this project. Zahra did have no any experience with painting prior joining this project but she has been interested in painting since she was very young.
Untitled — Javid Rabiee
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
‘This is an abstract work. I am trying to show the suffering that all refugees experience to achieve a good life – especially the suffering that Afghan refugees experience in Iran and Pakistan who are oppressed and hurt by the country’s government fall.’
About the artist
Javid Rabiee was born on 21 April 1992 in Shiraz, Iran. He was one of the Afghani refugees in Shiraz who did not have citizenship papers only an ID card to stay in Shiraz. Javid went to school and completed year 12. He liked painting and drawing classes at an advanced level, but because of problems in Iran for refugees, he could not continue this work. This project has enabled Javid to develop his painting skill.
Self portraits— Sohrab Rustami
Medium: Mixed media on paper
‘In this series of self-portraits, I’m focusing on memory and identity. For me it was important to use my own passport size portraits because first of all this work is about me and my memories of living in Pakistan where our community was under attack each day. And secondly, because the most haunting memories that I carry with me even now, far away from Pakistan, are the distorted faces of people shot in the head and face. There was a time in Pakistan where members of our community were shot and killed daily and because of our facial features we were very easily recognisable even in the busiest parts of the city. After each attack the pictures of individuals killed, were uploaded on social media to be recognised and we as kids, having access to the internet, always saw those photos. These self-portraits are, in a way, the effect of those events and incidents that I might not ever be able to forget and will probably remain a big part of my identity.’
About the artist
Sohrab Rustami was born in Ghazni, Afghanistan and moved to Pakistan as a child with his family. In 2013 he moved to Australia as a refugee. In 2015 he graduated from Norwood Morialta high school and in 2015 he started studying Bachelor of Visual Arts in University of South Australia. His works are mostly concentred about international issues, displacement and memory.
Layers of memories — Elyas Alavi
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
‘This work is an abstract work. It was created by different layers on top of each other. I chose each colour to show different feelings during my first five years being in my new homeland, Australia.’
About the artist
Elyas Alavi (Instructor of the painting workshops) is an emerging artist and renowned poet based in Adelaide, South Australia. He is primarily working in the forms of painting, installation and performance art. Alavi was born in Afghanistan and moved to Iran as a child. In late 2007 he moved to Australia as a refugee at risk. Alavi graduated from a Masters by Research (Visual Arts) in 2015 and a Bachelor of Visual Arts (Honours) at the University of South Australia. He has exhibited in number of solo and group exhibitions in Australia and Afghanistan art spaces including CACSA Project Space, SASA Gallery, Nexus Arts, IFA (Kabul), Moonee Art Space (Melbourne) and Fontanelle Gallery. Alavi also is known as an internationally renowned poet. He published three poetry books in Iran and Afghanistan – ‘I’m a daydreamer wolf’, ‘Some wounds’ and ‘Hodood’. For more information: www.elyasalavi.com
Self portrait, untitled — Elyas Alavi
Medium: Pen on a canvas and thread
‘This artwork is my self-portrait. It represents my identity. I worked on a canvas with markers for the hair, I used stitching on some part with threads, and a black fine liner pen. My artwork does not have a title.’
About the artist
My name is Farzana Noori and I am an art student. I was born on 5th April 1996 in Ghazni province of Afghanistan. I lived in Quetta, Pakistan, for about two to three years and joined art class at Negarestane Hatif. I also became a member of an art community, the goal of which was to help people with their skill in visual art drawings. I practised and studied drawings, experimental pencil colours, charcoals, graphite pencils, soft pastel, oil pastel and oil colours. I produced more than three artworks and as a group we held many exhibitions in Quetta. I arrived with a family in Adelaide on the 9th of February 2015 and began studying English.
Hello friend
Translation in English: ‘A greeting from a friend, an acceptance from us’
This is a Quatrain poem from Bidel Dihlavi one of the famous Afghani poet. This poem emphasises ‘openness’ and ‘receptiveness’. It acknowledges people’s attention, humility and appreciation towards friendship.
Kindness
Translation in English: ‘Kindness brings friendship.’
This is a quotation of Imam Ali’s (the first Imam for Muslim Shia people). It emphasises kindness and an appropriate behaviour with people.
College leaders — Murtaza Hussaini
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
‘I have done this painting in memory of graduating from high school. It features me and thirteen other college leaders of the graduating year of 2014 from St Michael’s College. It was a memorable moment spending time with my colleagues and teachers most who I never seen again. I intended to capture my personal story of settling in amongst an Australian community. Every migrant faces challenges coming to a new country. The kindness and respect of my friends and teachers helped me to elude my challenges and to settle in. It was an unforgettable experience that made me who I am today. The faces of each student in the painting denote the equality amongst all students regardless of their race and culture background. It’s been painted in an abstract expression style. A key influence to this particular style of painting is Australian artist Ben Quilty who has worked in Afghanistan as a war artist.’
About the artist
Murtaza Hussaini was born on the 15 April 1997 in Malistan Afghanistan. At the age of five he and his family fled from the Afghan civil war to seek refuge in the neighbouring country of Pakistan, in the city of Quetta. He did his early education there and started to take art classes under Pakistani artist Syed Shah Abdullah Alamee. He came to live in Australia in August 2009. He accomplished his high school education in Adelaide and currently studying Bachelor of Visual Art at the University of South Australia. His art works are inspired by his rich Afghan cultural and his experience of being removed from his culture. Artists such as Hossein Valamanesh and Louis Heselton have played a key role in his artistic life mentoring and inspiring him to create works. He is aiming to exhibit his works nationally and internationally.
A dreamy girl with lots of wishes — Asif Hussaini
Medium: Watercolour
‘The life is so much hard and complicated for every refugee. This girl is one of them. She has many wishes to come true. She has many pathways to go for, but she has already given up on her wishes because of racism and harassment to live a simple and quiet life.’
About the artist
Asif Hussaini is currently Studying in Marden Senior College. Asif has almost six years of art experience in Pakistan. He was student of Hasan Ali Hathif. There was a special class of art which he used to go.
An unexpected journey — Ziagul Yahya
Medium: Black pen and acrylic paint on paper
‘In these artworks, I captured my journey. I use continuous lines, black, red and green colours and my fingerprints. Different mediums allowed me to express different ideas. The continuous line in the background is unbroken from the beginning to the end. Basically I came up with the use of a continuous line as a powerful way to create an emotional, rational and representational piece all in one. Each of the artworks contain a figure with a different coloured fingerprint on the face. These fingerprints represent my identity. The colours have been chosen from the flag of Afghanistan and each represents a different meaning. In the first piece, there is a figure with black coloured fingerprint that represents how we come to a new country and experience difficulties of new language, culture and environment. In the second piece, there is a figure with a red coloured fingerprint which means you are fighting and still lost within the new atmosphere. In the last piece, the colour green has been used to represent that after all those experiences of resettlement, independence is achieved as well as success, hope and a bright future.’
About the artist
Ziagul Yahya was born in Jaghori Ghazni, Afghanistan and moved to Australia in November 2007. She graduated with a Bachelor of Visual Arts specialising in painting from the University of South Australia in 2015. Currently she is completing a Masters of Teaching at University of South Australia.
Refugees and difficulties — Ezatullah Gulistani
Medium: Watercolour
Refugees: a refugee is a person who has fled his or her own country, cannot return due to fear of persecution, and has been given refugee status. These two paintings show how refugees face hardship to reach safety and to find peace and happiness in a new country.
About the artist
Ezatullah Gulistani is a 22 year old male was born in 1994 in Afghanistan. Ezatullah grew up and completed his year 12 in Pakistan. He has been painting for five years. Ezatullah has arrived in Australia about 10 months ago.
We try not to take people’s hate into our hearts — Pari Moradi
About the artist
Pari Moradi is a young Afghan photographer focusing mostly on portraits and landscapes.