Art in Afghanistan

October 22, 2009
Kabul

There is a National Gallery of Art in Kabul which we visited the other day. Riddled with bullets during the years of war, it has now been repaired and houses an interesting, if eclectic collection of old and contemporary Afghan art as well as European oils carried here by kings and ambassadors over the years.

During the Taliban years much art was destroyed and the museum has a glass case full of ripped and torn paintings and drawings - mostly of women that didn't survive. There is beauty emerging, however from the rubble. The Garden of Peace and Hope is an example. The roses, which are indigenous to this area are beautiful and continue to bloom even as the evenings grow cold. I hate to think about them dying off for the winter. From my time here in 2006 I know the winters to be bleak and muddy in sepia tones. The roses add splashes of color now.