Art in the Crossfire: Rising from the Ruins of War the True Story of Afghan Artist Abdul Shokoor Khusrawy

By Abdul Shokoor Khusrawy

Abdul Shokoor Khusrawy developed a passion for art at age seven while recovering from a broken femur bone in his right leg, which was in a cast for more than two years in Kabul, Afghanistan. He discovered that he was not going to fully recover and walk normally, and he was diagnosed and declared as a disabled person for the rest of his life.
Shokoor at the age of seven was supposed to enroll in first grade, but instead he was in and out of the hospitals for two years. He eventually got a little better and entered school at the age of nine, but not without first going through repeated rejections because of his age.
Shokoor was about to graduate from high school when Afghanistan was invaded by the USSR. The atrocities of the brutal invasion of the USSR led to a massive refugee influx and mass murder of Afghan civilians. Soon, Afghanistan turned into a battle zone, marked as the darkest chapter of the Afghan recent history. The United Nations and the NATO got involved in bringing peace to Afghanistan; but after decades of trying they eventually realized that the Afghans oppose any sort of foreign interference, fighting the puppet government of Afghanistan and the NATO forces simultaneously. Millions have lost their lives; cities and villages are in ruins. Fear, anxiety, financial hardships, health crises, and chaos continue to threaten the lives of Afghans.
Shokoor, as a young yet vulnerable young man, has developed a passion for painting while witnessing these horrors, and he started to draw and paint these events, many images of which are very disturbing.
While the war was going on, most schools around the capital city of Kabul were open on and off and were sometimes hit by bullets and rockets. Yet students continued to go to school, risking their lives by being only a bullet away from being killed. Shokoor was among them. He eventually graduated and was enrolled to Kabul University, where every student was living their lives day by day, not knowing whether or not they would make it to school the next day.
Shokoor was interested in marrying someone whom he loved, but he was going through financial hardship and had to finish school. He found a job working after school at a construction site to cover his expenses, buy art supplies, and bring food to the table for his new bride who was a housemaker without any educational background. Once, while Shokoor was digging at the base of a building, one of his coworkers accidentally hit Shokoor in the side with a pick mattock, which punctured his kidney. He was taken to a hospital while he was unconscious. He had to stay home for a while to recover while going through financial hardship. However, the newlywed was happy to be alive.
War was intensifying around Kabul, and Shokoor as a new graduate had just gotten a new job at the National Gallery and later on at Kabul Museum, not knowing that he was going to be stuck for a week inside the museum while the militants were fighting each other right outside the museum at Darul-Aman, Kabul.
A week later Shokoor managed to get home, and he was happy to see his wife. Soon they packed and left their beloved home and sought refuge in the neighboring country of Pakistan, only to find out that they were going to be further devastated. They later return to Kabul hoping to rebuild their shattered lives, not knowing that they were returning to the ruined city where his wife would die during childbirth.
Shokoor saw no other choice but to endure, persevere, and stay alive. He left Afghanistan and came to America for safety and a better life, away from fear and wars.
Shokoor is one of the luckiest people to get out of a war zone and come to America, where he had hopes and dreams of establishing a new life and make a difference in people’s lives through his art and story. His art exhibition in the US had received great awards and recognitions. Some of his paintings were displayed at the Museum of the Sun City in Arizona.
Next, Shokoor wanted to open an art g

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Apr 18, 2021
• ISBN: 9781664158924

Book preview

Copyright © 2021 by Abdul Shokoor Khusrawy. 823678

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Xlibris

844-714-8691

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2021903145

Rev. date: 07/20/2021

Contents

Endorsers

Three Praise Letters About Shokoor

In the name of Allah

Childhood

School

The Afghan Civil War

Pakistan

Family Tragedy

Possible Solution for Afghanistan

Shokoor’s accomplishments:

The book Art in the Crossfire, authored by Abdul Shokoor Khusrawy, spans a lifetime depicting war, fear, hope, challenge, dreams, and the opportunistic future of the humble artist Abdul Shokoor Khusrawy. He goes by Shokoor. Born in 1963 in the capital city of Kabul, he came from the noble family of the Honorable Mir Masjidi Khan Ghazi, also known as Sahebzadah, who fought and defeated the British colonial army in Shamali, north of Kabul, in the eighteenth century.

Shokoor grew up in the capital city of Kabul, a city with thousands of years of history and one of the largest cities, with a diverse population of approximately two million. It is located in the northeastern part of the country. It has two beautiful tall mountains known as Khoe Asmayee and Khoe Shir Darwaza, and a river goes right in the middle. Small shops and restaurants add to the city’s beautiful and stunning look.

Shokoor’s life story is about his beloved country and all of the turmoil that happened around him while he was young and vulnerable. Shokoor, like many other Afghans, had to remain hopeful that his war-torn country, Afghanistan, would soon return to normal. After more than four decades of war, Afghanistan remains a war-conflict zone.

This is the true story of a man with courage and commitment who picked a self-made painting brush and a pallet knife as his weapons in the middle of a lethal war zone. He dedicated his life to reflecting the reality of life in Afghanistan in his artwork and in his chilling story.

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ENDORSERS

THREE PRAISE LETTERS

ABOUT SHOKOOR

PRAISE LETTER (1)

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TRANSLATION:

A friend of the arts and a high-ranking painter of the homeland, Mr. Abdul Shokoor Khusrawy is a former deputy director of the national gallery of the beautiful city of Kabul, Afghanistan. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the Faculty of Fine Arts, Kabul University. He is highly regarded among our compatriots in Afghanistan. He has shown his art in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and in the United States, and has received numerous awards. He also has authored calligraphy books (Mir Masjidi Khan). Shokoor is a very serious patriot and a talented artist in calligraphy, music, and poetry. He loves painting in different media, such as expressionism, modern abstract, surrealism, and watercolor. Using a palette knife, he creates very beautiful and charming paintings. Some of his paintings are portraits of prominent personalities of the country and of history. He has more than a thousand pieces of paintings in different styles. Khusrawy has been an active participant in art exhibitions in Afghanistan and has repeatedly won awards and letters of appreciation.

Sincerely,

Murtaza Padais, former student of the Faculty of Fine Arts, Kabul University; artist and author of A Diary on Canvas published in 2012

PRAISE LETTER (2)

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Shokoor Khusrawy is a renowned multitalented Afghan artist whose amazingly attractive artwork has impressed many art lovers not only in Afghanistan but also internationally and interculturally through social media, art galleries, and exhibits. I became familiar with Shokoor’s unique paintings about three years ago when I was a guest at the presidential palace in Afghanistan (Kabul Arg). I noted his delightful painting hanging on the wall of the reception hall, representing a shepherd following a sheep herd in the Hindukush foothills.

Shokoor’s work represents a wide range of styles and schools, from abstract to realism and impressionism. For instance, his painting titled Garden appear to follow George Suret’s post-impressionist style; for his painting of Herat Citadel, he followed the realism works of Edouard Manet; and the painting of refugees appears to follow J. M. W. Turner. In addition, in many cases his art pieces exhibit the ordinary life of the people of Afghanistan under extraordinary challenges. Several of his exquisite works using oil, watercolor, and pencils epitomize and signify the history, architecture, and also the beauty of nature (for example, the old bazaar of Kabul, Herat Provence, the village people, the escape of migrants, Pamir, the valleys/landscapes, and several others).

Shokoor’s delightful work of art greatly appealed to me and my husband, Dr. Qayoumi (president emeritus of San Jose State University), and we invited him along with several other Afghan artists to our foundation’s (Armghan Foundation) art show in December 2018. It has been our pleasure and honor to recognize him and introduce his artwork to lovers. Art gives us the underpinnings for responsible citizenship as well as widens our horizons. It enables us to escape the limitations in nature and empowers us to seek change through our imagination. It addresses permanent human concerns. Art is our fingerprint in the world. Art connects humans with their humanity. Individuals like Shokoor is playing a significant role in this area.

Indeed, Shokoor’s unique pieces of art are like valuable jewels and treasures that are timeless. We wish him lots