Art about the culture and war in Afghanistan?

June 6, 2011 1:33 PM

What is the most interesting art being made about the culture and war in Afghanistan? Art that has received a wide audience, engendered debate, or otherwise become culturally significant would be most interesting to know about.
posted by tnygard to society & culture (11 answers total)

Afghan rugs incorporating images of war
posted by Pruitt-Igoe at 1:38 PM on June 6, 2011

If you are okay with books about the war between Afghanistan and the Soviet Union then The Photographer by Didier Lefèvre is worth reading. It's an account of his travels through the country with Doctors Without Borders, and it features his photography coupled with drawings and his narration.

Osama, a fiction film about a young girl in Afghanistan under Taliban rule, who's passing as a boy, is also worth a look. (And no, it has nothing to do with bin Laden, at least not directly.)
posted by johnofjack at 1:40 PM on June 6, 2011

The CBC has a radio play thats based around a group of Canadian soldiers who are serving in Afghanistan called Afghanada.
posted by SpaceWarp13 at 1:42 PM on June 6, 2011

Restrepo, a documentary about a US platoon in the Korengal Valley.
posted by clearly at 1:48 PM on June 6, 2011

The Kite Runner was a huge best seller
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 1:53 PM on June 6, 2011 [1 favorite]

Let England Shake
posted by Leon at 1:59 PM on June 6, 2011

The Great Game by the Tricycle Theatre in London (it toured in the US and was performed at the Pentagon)
Guardian review

Washington Post coverage

posted by Bwithh at 2:24 PM on June 6, 2011

A multimedia take (which hasn't reached a wide audience, unfortunately, so may not apply)
posted by piato at 4:31 PM on June 6, 2011

There is a good film called Kandahar by Iranian director Mohsen Makhmalbaf. It's a pretty astounding look into Taliban-ruled Afghanistan in the mid-1990s. The story is partly fiction, but was filmed covertly inside Afghanistan with non-actors.
posted by geneva uswazi at 5:02 PM on June 6, 2011

Eyes Wide Open project by AFSC.
posted by WorkingMyWayHome at 4:52 PM on June 7, 2011

Street art has taken off in Kabul, with a crew called "Talibanksy" and a project by the Wallords of Afghanistan. Zerosix works on the other side of the blast barriers in Kandahar.

Aman Mojadidi, who has created a bunch of works around a character he calls the Jihadi Gangster, pasted up fake campaign posters for last year's parliamentary elections. He was the subject of a recent profile in the WSJ.
posted by ecmendenhall at 1:33 PM on June 8, 2011