Since December 2023, I’ve been connecting with many Afghan artists through the Asia Contemporary Art Forum’s Talking Peers: Arts for Afghanistan program, initiated by curator Leeza Ahmady. It was through this unique program that I met Naz Orakzay, based in Kabul, Afghanistan.
Over the past nine months, I’ve been collaborating with Naz and Bahareh Khoshooee (based in New York), two brilliant artists and dear sisters, on an exhibition project titled And She Made the Moon a Light in Their Midst at Penumbra Foundation.
The title, drawn from a verse in the Quran (71:16, Surah Nuh), resonates deeply with the spirit and content of the exhibition — as Naz truly made the moon a light in our midst.
The process of this project has been as meaningful and valuable to us as the resulting exhibition, if not more so. From the beginning, our guiding aim has been to challenge the passive image so often projected onto Afghan and Iranian women, to refuse the erasure of their strength and resistance by narratives of fragility, and to resist the reproduction of the patronizing gaze cast upon these women—a gaze historically sustained by Western political visions that have instrumentalized their image to rationalize war and intervention under the guise of “saving” them—most recently, with the Israeli government’s use of the Women, Life, Freedom movement in Iran to justify aggression.
Beneath all of this, my long-standing dilemmas persisted: the burden of representation—of being “a voice” for a particular community—and, in doing so, the risk of flattening and homogenizing that group, ignoring its subtle, intricate differences. How can one ever claim to speak for millions? How can one give voice to a community that has endured oppression without reproducing the very image of victimhood and silencing that oppression imposes? Does showing resilience, power, and hope come at the cost of turning away from the reality of injustice?
As a result, what began as a collaborative art project gradually unfolded into something far deeper: a space for listening, questioning, reflection, doubt, trust, empathy, and care—and ultimately, creation of new bodies of work. The answer to what we wanted to show emerged slowly, which endured moments of both sorrow and joy.
The events of recent months also added layers of meaning and emotion to our journey: Israel’s attack on Iran and the ensuing twelve-day war, followed by U.S. bombardments of Iranian nuclear facilities—with the possibility of continued conflict still looming; the brutal expulsion of over a million Afghan migrants from Iran; Russia’s recognition of the Taliban; and Trump’s travel ban targeting twelve countries, including Iran and Afghanistan; and the recent two-day blackout in Afghanistan, which cut off all communication between us.
And yet, these very events drew us closer together, deepening our sense of urgency to make this solidarity visible. Despite the disillusionment and despair these months carried, our emotional bond and collaboration grew only more meaningful. In fact, it became something we needed—an anchor, a reassurance, a thread of hope.
And She Made the Moon a Light in Their Midst is rooted in solidarity, rage, and joy, inspired by the resistance and resilience of our sisters and mothers in Afghanistan, Iran, Palestine, Sudan, and beyond, who continue to imagine life and liberation and cultivate hope, care, and survival in the face of violence, war, displacement, and erasure.
Free Palestine