Event and Ticketing Details
Dates & Times
Tuesday 13 September
6:30 PM - 7:30 PM
Haunting images from Kabul Airport filled Western television screens following the 2021 Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, drawing into sharp relief the devastation caused by decades of conflict and the West’s failure of accountability.
The Twenty Years project is a coalition of contemporary artists and journalists that aims to centre the voices and stories of Afghanistan, and to reflect on and respond to the legacy of the longest war in US and Australian history. At this event, you’ll hear from writers, musicians, sportspeople, artists, refugees and activists in a celebration of the resilience, joy and creativity of Afghanistan.
Photographer Barat Ali Batoor and soccer player Fatima Yousufi will speak with Diana Sayed, CEO of the Australian Muslim Women’s Centre for Human Rights, about their experiences both here and in Afghanistan. Batoor uses photography to draw attention to the plight of Afghanistan and its people, while Fatima is a member of the Afghanistan’s national women’s soccer team and evacuated from the country following the Taliban takeover.
There will also be a screening of the short film 20 Years: The Words that Shaped the War in Afghanistan and an opening address by co-creator of the Twenty Years Project Antony Loewenstein. The evening will conclude with a performance of music and song by Taqi Khan.
This is a rare opportunity to experience a multidisciplinary showcase celebrating Afghanistan’s creativity and passion, without intervention.
Photograph by Barat Ali Batoor.
Supported by RMIT Culture
Featuring
Fatima Yousufi
Fatima Yousufi is a 20-year old athlete who has been playing soccer for Afghanistan’s women’s national team since 2017. Fatima has also been on the women’s youth and grassroots panel at the Afghanistan Football Federation since 2020.
Fatima has been an English language instructor at the Education and Culture Center for Women – Good Neighbor International (ECGW–GNI) since 2015. Furthermore, she was a senior student of business management at one of the prestigious universities in Afghanistan with great academic performance.
Barat Ali Batoor
Barat Ali Batoor is a multi award-winning photographer and filmmaker. Batoor started photography in 2002 and launched his first solo exhibition in 2007. His photographs were exhibited across the world including the U.S., Europe, Asia and Australia.
His works have been published in The Washington Post, Newsweek, Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, Stern, India Today, Risk Magazine, The Global Mail, The Daily Mail, Strategic Review and others.
He participated in Lahore Artist Residency in Lahore, Pakistan and was the 2009 recipient of a photography grant from Open Society Institute for The Dancing Boys of Afghanistan.
He is the winner of Nikon-Walkleys Photo of the Year 2013 award as well as the Photo Essay category. He was also awarded Communication for Social Change Award by the University of Queensland.
He was a speaker at the TEDxSydney in 2014.
Batoor’s documentary film Batoor: A Refugee Journey won an award for the Best Director at the Melbourne Documentary Film Festival. The film was also nominated for the 2021 Walkley Documentary Award.
Batoor currently works as a freelance photographer and teaches photojournalism at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia.
Batoor is also the recipient of RMIT’s Dean award for an Exemplary Sessional Staff Member 2021.
Taqi Khan
My name is Taqi Khan and I am from Afghanistan. I belong to the persecuted Hazara ethnic group, who have resided in today's Afghanistan for over 2000 years. Hazaras have faced genocides and mass killings since the late 1800s for their ethnicity. 62% of the Hazaras have been wiped out by the King of Afghanistan. Because of the ongoing persecution, injustices and violence against us, many of us have fled our homeland and become refugees for generations.
I am one of the Hazaras who left the country during persecution, and have spent most of my life as refugee – full of suffering and hopelessness. In 2010, I came to Australia by boat and was detained in a detention centre. At the moment, I am in Melbourne working on my music. Music is the only source with which I can make people from my community, and wider communities, happy and cheerful – something I have been deprived of all life. I share my pain through my music. I tell the silenced stories of my people's painful history to the world with my music.
Antony Loewenstein
Antony Loewenstein is an independent journalist, best-selling author, filmmaker and co- founder of Declassified Australia. He’s written for The Guardian, The New York Times, The New York Review of Books and many others. His books include Pills, Powder and Smoke: Inside The Bloody War On Drugs, Disaster Capitalism: Making A Killing Out Of Catastrophe and My Israel Question.
He’s the co-editor of the essay collection, After Zionism. His documentary films include Disaster Capitalism and the Al Jazeera English films West Africa’s Opioid Crisis and Under the Cover of Covid. His new book, out in 2023, is The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports The Technology of Occupation Around The World. He's reported from Afghanistan since 2012 and is the co-creator of the Twenty Years project.
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Diana Sayed
Diana is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Australian Muslim Women’s Centre for Human Rights. She joined the organisation in October 2019 as an international human rights lawyer with experience working in both ...