Ποιειν Και Πραττειν - create and do

You are here: Home » Peace efforts » Murals as big letters » Kabul, Afghanistan - no enemy picture

Kabul, Afghanistan - no enemy picture

"Never again war"                                 Kabul, Afghanistan, 2005


Nie wieder Krieg

Never again war

Das Bild „Nie wieder Krieg“ ist im Jahre 2005 mit den Schülern in einer kabuler Schule entstanden, in der ich für 3 Jahre als Lehrerin tätig war.

An der Arbeit beteiligt waren sowohl Mädchen als auch Jungen im Alter zwischen 8 und 14 Jahren. Die Art des Arbeitens, auf so großer Fläche, auf dem Boden hockend mit Pinsel und Farbe, gefiehl den Kindern so gut, dass sie immer mehr Freunden ovn ihren Erlebnissen berichteten und diese mitkamen, um sich auch am großen Bild zu beteiligen. So vergrößerte sich die Gruppe im Laufe der Zeit um ein vielfaches. Teilweise wechselten sich die Schüler beim Malen ab, damit jeder einmal malen konnte.

Die Schüler machten zunächst kleine Entwürfe zu dem Thema, die wir dann gemeinsam zu einem großen Bild komponierten und die Kinder auf die Leinwand übertrugen.

Nicht nur die Form des Bildes, sondern auch der Inhalt war sehr anregend für die Kinder die selbst -trotz ihres jungen Alters- sowohl Kriegs- als auch Friedenszeiten erlebt hatten und somit persönliche Erlebnisse mit beiden Theman in Verbindung bringen konnten.

Die Kinder waren in der Lage ihre diesbezüglichen Erlebnisse, Erfahrungen und Wünsche in sehr reale und wenig abstrakte Bilder umzusetzen.

Ihre Vorstellungen von Krieg waren sehr konkret und die vom Frieden recht anspruchslos! Das Bild „nie wieder Krieg“ ist zweigeteilt: auf der linken Seite ist der Himmel grau, die Häuser zerstört, man sieht Panzer und Flugzeuge d.h. Tötungsmaschine

The painting „Never again war“ was created in 2005 by pupils of a school in Kabul, Afghanistan.
In the collaborative work participated girls as well as boys in the ages between 8 and 14. The kind of work, on such a huge surface, the children liked so much that they brought with them ever more friends and the group grew into a considerable size over time. In part pupils took turns, so that everyone could paint at least once on the big canvas.
Not only the form of the painting, but also the theme was very stimulating to the children who had all despite their young ages experienced both war and peaceful times. Their imagination of war and peace is therefore concrete, the lived through experiences still present.
The children were therefore in a position in relation to these experiences and wishes to translate that into very real and little abstract pictures.
The mural “Never again war” is divided into two parts: on the left side the sky is grey, houses are destroyed, one sees tanks and airplanes, that is death machines but no human beings. Danger looms everyone, in the air and on the ground.
Peace means by contrast, that one can go to school, that in nature everything blooms, that one sees human beings and they treat each other in peace and with respect.
If one views the mural two years later, the actuality of the motif has not changed.
There are still happening in Afghanistan military confrontations and suicide bombers threaten the lives of people.
Nevertheless the situation of the children in Kabul can no longer be compared with
the times of civil war. Despite all difficulties children can visit schools and the children live no longer in exile.

Fatema Nawaz

 

Interpretation of the painting:
Fatema Nawaz states that she started the painting with first a very small group outside
of ordinary teaching hours. Every time when they met other and new children joined.
She did not send them away, while these children waited patiently until it was their
turn to paint themselves. In the end, there were, however, so many children interested,
that she had to close the art room from inside, so that work on the painting could
continue.
This situation is closely linked with the recent history of the country: due to war
children did not attend any school. Moreover art did was not a part of their daily life.
Only slowly does art find now its place in the everyday life of the children and of the
inhabitants of the people of Afghanistan.

That part of the painting with weapons being destroyed by a meat grinder reminds of
Janusz Korczak who wrote about a weapon factory being transformed by children into
a chocolate producing plant. Such utopian wish can also be detected in the Kabul
painting with weapons being put into a meat grinder with things children need at
school coming out at the other end. It is a simple message: don’t spend money on
weapons but on education. Instruments of peace are pencils, books and paper to write
on. To deprive children from a proper education is like robbing them of chances not
only to survive but to make any positive contribution to society.

What children can only do when war destroys their homes is become onlookers:
imaginary witnesses. They can see the difference as well: a peaceful landscape
compared to what is happening at home. That creates strong wishes for another world.

In support of schools in Afghanistan, Fatema Nawaz has created together with her husband the NGO

AYENDAH

VEREIN ZUR FöRDERUNG AFGHANISCHER BILDUNGSEINRICHTUNGEN E.V.

 

http://www.ayendah.de/

^ Top

« Nepal - dialogue between city and rural village | The War is Over - message of one painting »