Art is a tool for envisioning worlds that do not exist yet, and reflecting creative and underrepresented perspectives and ideas.
Vision
Art can be a powerful tool for social change and conflict transformation. In a world where the dominant narratives still belong to those in power, new and creative approaches to include underrepresented voices and narratives are urgently needed.
We envision a world where art becomes a powerful tool to advocate for underrepresented narratives and voices of historically marginalized groups and genders, especially from conflict-affected communities, and in the process build their sense of agency and resilience.
History
The Art of Freedom project was born in Kabul, Afghanistan in 2021 with a group of Indian and Afghan women artists. It’s first project was supported by the British Council which aimed to bring young women artists from minority religious, ethnic, or racial groups from conflict spaces together to explore their inherent creativity, voice out opinions, and highlight their journey through the years of conflict or towards peace. Since then, through a series of workshops the project has provided a selection of Afghan women artists with a space for mentorship to create artworks depicting their stories of freedom or the struggles to gain their freedoms while living with the memories of a war-affected country.
As per the key provisions under the Security Council’s Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security and SCR 2250 on Youth, Peace and Security, we aim at increased awareness and attention to specific protection needs of women & girls in conflict as well as building a gender perspective in post- conflict processes. Through Art of Freedom, we use art created by young women to advocate for women’s & girl’s right to education in key regional forums as well as through seminars and exhibitions around the world.
Mission
We use different creative tools such as visual art, theatre, or zine-making to empower the narratives of young women and other marginalized genders and advocate for their meaningful participation in the peacebuilding process as well as in social, political, and economic decision-making.
We commit to building our programs with a community-focused approach that is intersectional, compassionate, and accessible. Through our art program, we boost the visibility and reach of powerful and transformative art-based narratives especially those of historically marginalized groups including indigenous, ethnic, religious, and racial minorities, and members of the LGBTQI+ community.
Advisory Board Members
Faryal Azmi
Advisory Board Member
Marzia Kakkar
Advisory Board Member
Varsha Panikar
Advisory Board Member
Zolai Sultan
Advisory Board Member
Activities
We conduct annually our Art of Freedom Mentorship program, whose aim is to bring young women artists from minority religious, ethnic, or racial groups affected by conflict, together, to explore their inherent creativity, voice out opinions, and build on their narratives of resistance and resilience to build frameworks of peacebuilding and conflict transformation.
In a country like Afghanistan where women have faced extreme exclusions for the last few decades and still continue to struggle for basic human rights such as education, it was imperative that we build on tools that can be used to show resistance and resilience. This program uses art to question social norms, and prevailing gender stereotypes and add to the missing narratives of women and other marginalized genders in the area of peacebuilding and gender justice.
We also organize in-person workshops using visual art, theatre, and other alternative educational tools for women and other genders from minority backgrounds in Afghanistan, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka. There are online workshops as well held for Afghan young women and girls who are unable to have access to schools due to the Taliban ban and also create online spaces for conversations from the diaspora community.
