Art Gallery exhibition will offer a new view of Afghanistan

‘Art Amongst War: Visual Culture in Afghanistan, 1979–2014,’ a series of programs and an interdisciplinary exhibition that will be held on campus this spring, seeks to widen, complicate, and enrich the public’s view of Afghanistan and to probe the cultural effects of long-term war.

Words by TCNJ's editorial staff

The year 2014 will mark 35 years since the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. From that point onward, the country has been in a constant state of armed conflict, and there is now an entire generation of adults for whom war is the only lived experience of their country. Next year is also the scheduled withdrawal date of U.S. troops from Afghanistan. Despite, or perhaps because of 13 years of direct military, political, and humanitarian engagement with Afghanistan, the majority of Americans view the Asian country as a dusty, barren, cold, and broken land, a view constructed from the images encountered in the commercial news media.

Art Amongst War: Visual Culture in Afghanistan, 1979–2014, a series of five public programs and an interdisciplinary exhibition that will be held on campus this spring, seeks to widen, complicate, and enrich the public’s view of Afghanistan and to probe the cultural effects of long-term war.

The exhibition, which will be on view in TCNJ’s Art Gallery from March 5 to April 17, will present contemporary Afghan and Afghan-American art, photojournalistic images, and traditional crafts. The programs will include historical documentary films and discussions with a Kabul-based NGO, a war veteran, and the leader of a social development organization in Afghanistan.

Click here for more information on the program.