Â鶹Éç

Artes Mundi 2008: Lida Abdul

Brick Sellers of Kabul (2006)

Last updated: 11 December 2008

An Afghan artist fusing Western formalism with aesthetic traditions, Lida Abdul works primarily in performance and video art.

Lida Abdul

Her works pose questions about place, community and the meaning of our surroundings. Her video works include Clapping with Stones and White House that both reinterpret the nature of architecture in our surroundings and suggest alternative ways of looking at space and its cultural implications. Her works also reflect the physical changes present in her home country Afghanistan.

Her work fuses Western formalism with aesthetic traditions such as Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism, which have influenced Afghan art and culture.

At the 2005 Venice Biennale she was the first official representative for Afghanistan in the Biennale's 100 year history. For the past few years Abdul has been working in different parts of Afghanistan on projects exploring the relationship between architecture and identity.

Abdul was born in Kabul, Afghanistan in 1973. She lived in Germany and India as a refugee after she was forced to leave Afghanistan after the former-Soviet invasion. She now lives and works in Kabul and Los Angeles, USA.

Her most recent work has been featured at the 51st Venice Biennale 2005; Istanbul Modern; Kunsthalle, Vienna; Museum of Modern Art Arnhem, The Netherlands and the Central Asian Biennial 2004.


Bookmark this page:

Â鶹Éç Arts & Culture

Photograph of a pile of books

In the picture

Your guide to everything from drama to dance, painting to poetry.

Â鶹Éç iD

Â鶹Éç navigation

Â鶹Éç © 2014 The Â鶹Éç is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read more.

This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so.