homesickness of refugees, six months after the capture of Kabul

On August 15, 2021, the Taliban entered Kabul, signaling the return to power of the radical Islamist movement, twenty years after being driven out. Tens of thousands of Afghans then rushed to the airport to try to flee the country, threatened in particular for having served foreign interests in recent years. France has promised to take care of 2,500 of them out of the 40,000 that Europe must welcome. Germany has offered to take 25,000.

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Among the refugees who arrived in France, three artists with very different profiles. They were forced to leave and all experience the pain of exile, like Fatimah Hosseini. This young 30-year-old photographer, feminist activist and member of the Hazara minority, gives a face to Afghan women with her photos, shows their beauty, their diversity.

She had founded an organization in Afghanistan that supported women artists. Today, she lives in the heart of Paris in a furnished studio, hosted for a year by the Cité Internationale des Arts. This combative young woman is happy to be able to rub shoulders with artists every day, but for the moment, all her projects have Afghanistan as their theme because if from her window she sees the Seine, her gaze is always turned towards her country.

“Physically I’m here but in my head I’m in Afghanistan. I think of the mountains.”

Fatimah Hossaini, photographer

at franceinfo

“I think of the locals, I think of everything I saw when I lived there. Once I’m done with my plans for Afghanistan, a new door will open and I will be able to m ‘grab other subjects’, hope fatimah Hosseini.

The news reaching them from their family back in Afghanistan is not very good. “My brother and my sister worked for NGOsexplains Sayed Zuhair Mousavi, 31, director, screenwriter and journalist, also hosted for a year at the Cité Internationale des Arts. My sister is a women’s rights activist. They can no longer work, they no longer have jobs. My sister is afraid because of the Taliban. At any time, they can knock on his door. She and my brother live in fear.” Sayed Zuhair Mousavi, moreover, fears a hardening in the coming weeks. According to him, the Taliban will actively seek out those who have worked with NGOs, foreigners and journalists.

The artists met have refugee status and since their arrival, like 157 other Afghan artists, they have been supported by the Atelier des artistes en exile for administrative procedures, accommodation, learning French or their professional projects. Essential support, says Sayed Zuhair Mousavi. “It’s good for us to have this help right now because we’ve all been through trauma and we need to be able to think about other things, think about work and not just what happened to us. saved from depression.

These artists have indeed lost everything, left everything behind them, their professional networks, a rather comfortable life. Master Ibrahimi is 50 years old. He is a very well known musician in his country, player of tablas, percussions from North India. He had a music school in Kabul and worked for television. He arrived in France with 16 members of his family, including eight of his children, and he has just moved to Cenon in the suburbs of Bordeaux after occupying three other accommodations since his arrival. “It’s difficult for mehe testifies. I am far from the artistic scene. What I would like is to be closer to Paris.”

“I have to find a music school. I have to teach, transmit.”

Master Ibrahimi, tabla player

at franceinfo

“I am a music master, it is not possible for me to stay at home. A teacher, he must be of service to the population, to society, to the country”, laments Master Ibrahimi. Another difficulty for him, he left Afghanistan without his instruments. The problem has just been partially solved. Funding has been found to have some made.

But all live with the hope of the return even if they know like Sayed Zuhair Mousavi that it will take time: “I don’t know what will happen, but I’m an optimist, so I think we’ll go back to Afghanistan. Not right away. But I’m sure the Taliban will leave Afghanistan.”. Fatimah Hossaini also maintains this idea of ​​return. “I listen to Afghan songs so as not to forget that I am a child of the Bamiyan Buddhasa child of the land of the poet Roumisays the photographer. Sometimes I try to wear an Afghan dress to remind myself that it comes from my country, from my home, and it gives me hope that one day I will definitely return to Afghanistan.”.

For now, Fatimah Hossaini is exhibiting her photos in Paris, with five other Afghan photographers, at the Pavillon Carré de Baudouin in the 20th arrondissement (until April 2).