Let Voices Be Heard

Written by Riya Pallamreddy

Shamsia Hassani, a 28-year-old Afghan graffiti artist, paints feminist murals on the walls of bombed-out buildings on the streets of Kabul.

She has only 15 to 20 minutes before she needs to flee. Some projects are left uncompleted but when art is used as a weapon of mass expression, that's what it takes for a lady like Hassani.

Hassani's artwork depicts ladies dressed in traditional clothes, wearing traditional jewellery playing traditional music. In subtle ways, they defy gender roles: These women are not playing the instruments to entertain someone else but, rather, wielding them on their own terms to show that they have a voice of their own.