Moshtari Hilal

Moshtari Hilal was born in Kabul in 1993. At the age of two she immigrated to Germany but she never forgot the link to her hometown. After having graduated from high school, she visited her birthplace Kabul to explore its art scene, culture and to meet other artists. She painted at Afghanistan’s first rock festival Sound Central and staged a live painting with a local artist. She also painted two street art wallpaintings at the courtyard of the artist restaurant »Venue« in Kabul.   2016 she opened the post-colonial and post-migration interdisciplinary festival CLINCH in Hanover with her exhibition Empathy won’t save us and discussed the possibilities of art for a social change at the opening panel. In November 2016 she was invited by the award-winning author Senthuran Varatharajah to the Literary Colloquium Berlin to present her exhibition The Girl with the Moustache.

With her body of often semi-autobiographical work, she aims to generate an understanding for the complexity of identities. She illustrates hybrid characters in order to question stereotypes and the idea of strict collective identities. Her portraits explore the possibilities of beauty and storytelling within a political environment through faces. Her work was on display in Germany, Afghanistan, Denmark, USA, Canada.   

At the moment she is studying Middle Eastern studies and political science in Hamburg and works as a freelance illustrator.