Elle expose plusieurs de ses toiles aux formes géométriques qui nécessitent patience et minutie. Midi Libre – W. N.
Arriving in Sète a year ago with her sister, the 25-year-old artist, a specialist in tazhib painting, is currently exhibiting her paintings at the Théâtre Molière alongside photographs by Afghan photographer Ali Mirzayee.
Seeing her works exhibited was, like for many artists, Deyana Rafat's dream. Except that she had initially imagined exhibiting them in her native country, Afghanistan. The return to power of the Taliban in August 2021 turned her life and all her projects upside down. “I wanted to open a gallery there”, emphasizes the 25-year-old woman, installed in front of five of her paintings, visible at the Théâtre Molière in Sète (TMS) until February 22, alongside photographs by Ali Mirzayee. A juxtaposition of two arts that each tell the story of an Afghan society where women had their place. “It's so that no one forgets the girls in Afghanistan. Many of these girls have more talent than me but they can't show it“, adds Deyana, in a mixture of English and French. Two languages she did not know before arriving in Sète a year ago.
Deprived of her studies at the Beaux-Arts
On January 10, 2024, she found refuge on Île Singulière thanks to Sandrine Mini, the director of the TMS, who, in the fall of 2022, had already welcomed her big brother, Esmatullah Alizadah. A famous musician in Afghanistan who had first taken refuge in Pakistan before being able to benefit from a talent passport. Since then, the TMS has supported her in rebuilding her career as an artist, in particular by implementing a project with the playwright Fabrice Melquiot, which will be presented on February 11 on the national stage. A brother who, while observing from France the situation of Afghan women worsening in his native country, worries about his two sisters, Shukria and Deyana.
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A student at the Beaux-Arts in Kabul, the latter was hit hard by the ban on women pursuing higher education. Born in 2000 in the city of Bamiyan, Deyana has no memories of the first Taliban regime. “My parents talked about it a lot”, she says, before recalling their return: “People couldn't imagine it, it was a shock. I knew they were going to close everything for girls. We were able to study for a year after they arrived, then we just stayed at home, we couldn't go out alone.” Poverty also worsened, forcing the family to live on nothing but rice and potatoes for two years. It was with the support of their family that Deyana and her sister decided to go into exile in France. “Our parents told us that if we wanted a bright future, we had to make a choice.”
“When they arrived, they were losing their hair”
Having obtained refugee status and holding a student visa, the two young women discover a whole new language, a new culture. All the while carrying within them the scars of what they have experienced. “When they arrived, they were losing their hair in handfuls because of post-traumatic stress”, describes Sandrine Mini who welcomes them with open arms. Shortly after their arrival, Shukria and Deyana join Paul-Valéry University in Montpellier to take French language courses. And resume the course of their dreams. Deyana rediscovers tazhib painting, an Iranian decorative art requiring patience and meticulousness, as well as her silk thread embroidery. In addition to a project with the Palanquée, she also nourishes the desire to learn the art of tapestry in Lodève.
A new nucleus in Sète
Today, Deyana has found a new family nucleus in Sète. “What I like here are my new parents”, she says, before mentioning “the sea, the weather” or even “the people who are very nice”. A core that has been further strengthened with the arrival, at the end of 2024, of her little brother Sameullah, a volleyball champion in Afghanistan, who joined Arago. The siblings are now almost complete. Missing the older brother, married and a father, who stayed in the country. A country from which Deyana always has news thanks to calls with her parents. As to whether she will see her native Afghanistan again, she agrees with Sandrine Mini: “We would like to go there together if one day it ends. We must remain hopeful.”
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