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Unfolding Stories
Part I: Artist-activist Mumtaz Khan Chopan’s tale of fleeing Afghanistan for Indonesia
An Afghanistan-born Yogyakarta artist escaped from the death and destruction of his homeland before settling in Indonesia. Today, he uses art to free others like him from the consistent terror of marginalization.
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Deeper exploration: Chopan's photography work, “Patience Stone” (2012), is shown in this undated photo. Chopan started exploring conceptual photography and experimented more after participating in Documenta 13 workshops held in Kabul, Afghanistan in 2012. (Courtesy Mumtaz Khan Chopan) (Courtesy Mumtaz Khan Chopan)
A
n Afghan-born Yogyakarta artist escaped from death and destruction of his homeland before settling in Indonesia. Today, he uses art to free others like him from the consistent terror of marginalization.
This is Part 1 of a two-part story. Part 2 will be published tomorrow.
A displaced child
One afternoon in 1996 Afghanistan, Mumtaz Khan Chopan – barely 6 years old – was walking back home from primary school, carrying his school notebook in his arms. “We will go to Pakistan,” Chopan recalled vague memories of what could be his mother’s or other relatives’ words upon his arrival in the house that day. The Taliban had taken over a third of their country.
“I remembered that there was war. [...] People were crying. One of the leaders of the Hazaras was killed,” said Chopan.
He remembered looking over from the roof of his house with his cousins during heavy snow in winter. They were observing the deceased leader’s body and cortège, all clad in black, marching through different villages and cities until the leader’s hometown. “It kind of looked like a black and white photograph.”
Chopan’s village had no electricity. His only means of information about the war was from a television nailed down on the back of a military jeep. He saw footage of the war that was shot in Kabul. Even as a child, he knew that something was wrong.
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