By: Ellaha Rasa
An art organization in Herat is giving destitute and orphaned girls a chance to paint in order to bring some hope and joy into their lives.
Mahor Gallery, which runs the program through volunteers, says it hopes to develop artistic talent among children who would otherwise not have an opportunity to do so. It also hopes the classes provide a kind of art therapy for children who might be feeling depressed and isolated.
Mahor Gallery has run the program for two years, with five sessions per program for girls aged 6 to 12. For most of the children who attend the program, it’s their first experience of painting or played with colours on a canvas before.
“We can awaken emotions,” Mahor Gallery founder Nazir Rahgozar says. “Children who reach puberty can stay away from many evils by working in the field of art.”
According to the university professor, fine arts have traditionally been given less attention in the Afghan educational curriculum especially in elementary grades. However he believes it’s an important part of a child’s development as creativity and having fun with colors expands children’s imaginations and makes their minds happy.
“In more developed countries, children learn the art of painting and music from the first to the fourth grades,” he says. “However, in Afghanistan, the education system is such that children focus on mathematics in elementary, instead of art and painting.”
The gallery helps fund the purchase of materials through exhibitions of children’s work.
The art teachers told Rukhshana Media in an interview that depression is common among children in orphanages and those who live in the streets, and for this reason, they do a form of “color therapy” in the first three training sessions. Then in the last two sessions, they learn how to combine colours and paint.
In the training sessions, they use the three primary colours, red, blue, and yellow to show them how to make other colours.
Mr Rahgozar, an art professor at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Herat University, established Mahoor Gallery in 2016. In a telephone conversation with Rukhshana Media, he says the situation of children in orphanages and on the streets is worrying, with so much deficiency in their lives that makes them more vulnerable than other children.
Painting dreams
Bibigul Azad, a fine arts graduate from Herat University, has been helping run the painting program for two years. She describes the joy she feels when she sees the enthusiasm on the young girls’ faces as they create scenes with bright, acrylic colors on their canvases. She says the common themes they paint are flowers, trees, houses, balloons and rainbows.
Ms Azad says their drawings reflect their dreams, with some of them who live in desperate poverty painting a home of their own. She recalls watching three girls fingerpaint a picture of a green field with a tree and a river running around the house.
Before they get to paint on a canvas, the color therapy sessions happen. This is where color is explored because otherwise the children do not use the colours available to them. Ms Azad says usually in the first session, even with the bright blue, red, and yellow accessible, the girls will reach for dark colors first.
“When I poured the light colors on their board, I felt that those colors bothered the children because they took the tube of black and poured it on the light color,” she says. “It was really sad and painful to see children at this age depressed and sad, instead of being fresh and happy.”
After the fall of Afghanistan to Taliban control in 2021, Ms Azad has not felt as depressed as many of her peers. Instead, she says, teaching children to create paintings has helped her as well and witnessing the talent of some of the girls is amazing.
“I experience the best feeling with children, they have incredibly strong minds and create the best artworks,” Ms Azad says. “I will continue my work and I would like to see children’s smiles forever by working with them.”
Mahor Gallery held a three-day exhibition to display the paintings on January 1, where about 20 paintings were sold. The proceeds will be used to buy more materials for the program.
Before the Taliban takeover in August 2021, Mahoor Gallery had provided work opportunities for 26 girls in the field of miniature painting, visual arts, mural painting, and handicrafts. But after August, the organization was forced to stop most of its programs.
Mr Rahgozar says it was heartbreaking to close the gallery gates, not only on the gallery, but also on his dream of educating the young and talented artists of Afghanistan. Now the main office is in Paris, France.
“After the arrival of the Taliban, unfortunately, the gallery was closed and we were not able to continue our activities,” Mr Rahgozar says. “Currently, the gallery does not have a physical presence as such, but we have still tried to plan to do the least we can for the homeless children.”
Herat is known as the city of knowledge and culture in Afghanistan. A number of prominent painters, miniaturists and calligraphers of the country have been born there or developed their talent in the city.
After the Taliban takeover, the restrictions on artistic activities forced many artists to leave the country. Art academics and professors from Herat University Faculty of Arts, some of whom used to use their own personal funds to set up art galleries and develop younger talent, have also fled.
