‘Ay Kash / ای کاش / If Only’ is an award winning theatre, art and
activism performance / exhibition featuring the artwork, films, poetry
and stories of eleven young women based in Afghanistan which premiered
in Berlin, Germany in September 2023 and is currently on tour
worldwide.
Eleven girls - using their pens, paints, and voices to share their
memories and experiences since the Taliban took power in 2021 and
share their hopes and dreams for a better future.
The performance, created entirely online by the eleven young women in
Afghanistan, was awarded the prize for best direction at the
prestigious International Theatre Festival festival ‘Valise’ in Łomża,
Poland (now in it's 37th year). The jury commented on the courage of
the performance and the power of its artistic expression, which is
more accurate than any journalism.
Eleven girls
Eleven girls, with tears in our eyes
and trembling legs, with no way to escape.
We are sitting in our bedrooms in Afghanistan and slowly dying.
Every time we rise to show ourselves, our legs are showered with
bullets.
Eleven girls who only ask to be allowed to study, to travel, to let
our hair fly in the wind and, from all the riches in this world, own a
bicycle.
Is it too much to ask?
Is it too much if I want to become a psychologist? Or a painter?
Too much if I want to fall in love and have my heart broken?
Too much if I prefer freedom over longing? What it my hair turns grey,
and my lips are never kissed?
We never wanted our share of the sky to simply be able to gaze at the
moon from our bedroom windows. I want to swim in the sky.
Do I want too much?
Eleven brave warriors, standing against the Taliban’s oppression with
our pens, art, poetry, and music.
Ay Kash is the voice of a nation
sleeping in blood, the voice of a wounded geography.
Don’t let our desire to swim in the sky, rot in our hearts. Don't let
the desire to take hold of our pen and fight, disappear.
#StandwithAfghanwomen #ThePeninsteadoftheGun
Text: S
Design: F
Since the withdrawal of the US & the UK in August 2021, the
situation for women in Afghanistan has spiralled into despair. Women
do not even have rights to be violated. They have lost the ability
to learn, graduate, fall in love, travel alone, go for a walk in the
park, or ride a bicycle.
‘Ay Kash / ای کاش / If Only’ is a hybrid performance featuring live
on-stage action by Rachel Karafistan of Cosmino Productions and
filmed ‘interaction’ with eleven young women who are in Afghanistan.
Their true identities will remain hidden because it is simply too
dangerous to do otherwise, but what they want to tell you will be
given life and poetic space. And they want to tell you many things:
they want to tell you the history of their country from their
perspective, their personal stories since the Taliban have taken
power, the stories of their mothers, their grandmothers and their
hopes and dreams for the future.
All this and more bursts into life with the help of song, object
theatre, storytelling, and AI.
The performance also features animations designed to protect the
identities of the eleven young women by Berlin artist,
Anna Benner. In addition to the live performance, there is a touring
exhibition featuring artwork, texts, and soundscapes by the young
women.
© 2023 - All rights reserved -
impressum
Under the Starry Afghan Sky
Cosmino Productions
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