Afghan Woman Photographer Rada Akbar Faces Threats For Showcasing Powerful Female Figures

Afghan photographer and artist Rada Akbar is facing threats for her self portrait that celebrates empowered and powerful female figures from the country. The 33-year-old's exhibitions are all about showcasing trailblazing women from her nation and the region. "I feel that I'm very close to death these days. Will I be alive tomorrow?" she said in an interview.

At a fearful time for women in Afghanistan, her latest exhibition - portraits that are a declaration of her independence and heritage - was forced online after she faced threats for her work that aims to showcase women's struggles to achieve their rights. "We are the minority who are fighting, raising our voices. By killing some of us, they will force the rest of us to be silent," Akbar said.

Afghan women’s rights activist, Akbar has spent a year devoting herself to designing these art pieces depicting women and now she is receiving messages like "You have no place, if you want to do this you'll get killed," the Bangkok Post reported. As per reports, her friends and the nation's high profile women including media workers, judges and activists are among the more than 180 people who have been assassinated since September in the violence. The US and Afghan governments blamed it on the Taliban.

Akbar’s personal nightmare began late last year when she started getting random prank calls to her cellphone but they knew her name. Like most of her friends, she no longer follows any routine and has restricted her movements around the country. "We keep saying (to) each other that 'ok, we need to stay alive' because if we died, then what is the point?" she said. She has been behind a series of exhibitions celebrating International Women's Day at Kabul's former royal palaces.

For Akbar, the Taliban are the enemies of women, art and culture, NY Times quoted her as saying last year. For many young Afghans like her, 2020 was painful because many women became the targets of an assassination campaign. Last year, she used mannequins to portray exceptional figures including a filmmaker, a footballer and Rokhshana, a woman stoned to death by the Taliban for fleeing a forced marriage.

Yet she doesn't wish to stop the displays that tell the story of pioneer women. This year, she upped her game and made a virtual presentation of her show on Abarzanan, meaning “Superwomen” in English -- that was broadcast to empty chairs set up at Kabul museum. Akbar has four sisters, including Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission chief Shaharzad Akbar. Her parents were a writer and a teacher and has always received the support from them.

Feature Image Credit: Bangkok Post