On Saturday the 5th of February 2022 the launch of “My Life, My Story” exhibition was held at the Leo Kelly Blacktown Arts Centre in Sydney Australia.
My Life, My Story shares 21 personal stories of women living outside of Afghanistan. Their stories speak to resilience, displacement and migration, and the effects of war. This project began before the Taliban regime came to power in August 2021. The opening ceremony featured the debut documentary film by Maryam and an exhibition of new paintings by artists, Arezo Aziz, Sara Barackzay, Lida Sultani Farahin, Neelab Omar, Fozia Zahid and Zahid Ahmed.
My Life, My Story is one of two projects presented by Blacktown Arts in 2022 about the impacts of the war in Afghanistan. The first is a partnership with Afghan Women on the Move (AWOTM) – an organisation that was founded by humanitarian, producer and artist, Maryam Zahid.
AWOTM is a global platform uniting woman of the Afghan diaspora to share their life stories through creative arts and storytelling, breaking cycles of isolation and disadvantage. AWOTM’s goal is to support women to find their voice and empower them with the tools and resources they need to feel valued and their differences respected.
The event was attended by Afghanistan’s Ambassador to Australia, HE Wahidullah Waissi. Ambassador Waissi expressed his gratitude to the organisers and heralded the exhibition as a platform for Afghan women who ‘struggle to put their voice to the world and represent the pain and sorrow that Afghan women suffer today in Afghanistan’.
The Ambassador in his speech reiterated the importance of raising the voices of Afghan women. ‘Every day and every night, one or two female activists are caught and thrown in jail by the Taliban regime. This is the saddest moment we are facing in the country’.
His excellency stressed the importance of My Life, My Story as a catalyst to generate momentum globally and ‘provide a better understanding of what is happening inside Afghanistan.’
The event was also attended by: Uncle Wes Marne, Senior Elder, Cllr Brad Bunting, Deputy Mayor Blacktown Council, Hon. Mark Coure MP, Minister for Multiculturalism, Hon Michelle Rowland, Member for Greenway, Shadow Minister for Comms, NSW Labour President.