Afghan street artist Shamsia Hassani murals featuring a single female character throughout the world. It can be found on the side of Capella Market in Eugene. KLCC’s Alec Cowan brings us this audio postcard on the power of the female voice for this year’s 20x21 Eugene Mural Project.
SHAMSIA HASSANI: "My name is Shamsia Hassani, a street artist from Afghanistan."
"So I have a character in my work, which is awoman. And she usually play a musical instrument, but the instrument is very fantasy, I design it, it’s not looking like a real musical instrument. But this instrument is a symbol that she can play her voice with it. It’s not for playing music. To play her voice louder and make more attention, but she house no mouth – that’s why she has the instrument."
"And here we have a view of Afghanistan, and down there is a city, and she is on the top trying to play her voice for the city, for people, to have a good message and positive message for the people."
"Usually I start making sketches first, like a little one, a very little one. And then when I make my composition, I put my all feeling through the small sketch, and I’m think about colors I’m going to use. And usually if I have a picture of the wall, I’m working with it digitally to see how it looks, and that’s the final thing. And then I’m coming to the wall."
"I think it’s a very good way to introduce art to those people who have never seen artwork. They never have any idea about artworks, or maybe they don’t have any information about it. In Afghanistan, because we have a lot of people who have no idea about art, and we don’t have any galleries or exhibitions they can go and see artworks. It’s a good way to introduce art to people, and also, because we have a lot of damaged walls from war it’s good to change the view of the city, and make something new, and share a positive message with people."
This audio postcard about muralist Shamsia Hassani was produced by KLCC’s Alec Cowan. It is the final part of a series on the 20x21 Eugene Mural Project.
