Shamayel is in the middle of a collection of mixed media canvases focusing on Afghan women. Through self portraits, Shamayel explores the intersection of her womanhood and her Afghan identity. Growing up post 2001, the image of the oppressed, burqa-clad hypo-sexualised, “unliberated” Afghan woman was the only image of Afghan women on a global scale, and it didn’t fit the image that Shamayel saw amongst Afghan women living inside Afghanistan and outside of it.

While growing up in Afghanistan, Shamayel learned intersectional feminism, which does not fit the global narrative of Afghan women nor feminism as a whole. When she started these paintings, she saw how quickly the confronting and healing of her sexual assaults factored into her perception of herself. Identity, sexuality, and trauma are all linked for Shamayel. The series wants to unpack the nuances of this identity both within Afghanistan as well as the world at large. What does it mean to be a brown Afghan woman in the world today? 

Pictured above: نام خدایم خداوند است ; acrylic on canvas, 70 x 100 cm (left). Working title: The Balloon Saw You; acrylic, marker, and spray paint on canvas, 1.5m x 2m, acrylic. Both 2022.

Shamayel is currently working on an installation that explores the past 20 years of Afghanistan, post 2001 US invasion and how it correlates to the fall of Kabul in August 2021. The installation demands you to humanise the people of Afghanistan, the real characters of war and confront what brought the country to where it is today.

Pictured above: #1; Ink on paper, 15 x 10 cm.