Zia Forogh

Zia Forogh (1984) is a singer, musician, visual artist, gallery owner, art teacher and activist from Afghanistan. He is currently an Artists at Risk (AR)-Resident at Moosdorf Korrektiv e.V. in Berlin, Germany.

Forogh graduated with a bachelor’s degree in painting from the University of Herat’s Fine Art Department in 2010. Along with his wife, he established the Daira-e-Khiyal Gallery in 2014, which showcased Afghan art and provided a space for young people to learn and practise art, including music and calligraphy. In the meantime, Forogh also received a Master’s degree in Visual and Performing Arts from Kabul University (2020). From 2012 until it was closed due to the arrival of the Taliban, he taught at the Fine Art Institute.

Over the years, Forogh has been invited to take part in many prestigious arts and musical events organised by local and international organisations, including at the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, the Afghanistan Independence Human Rights Commission, the NIMROZ Exhibition, the University of Herat, USAID, Turquoise Mountain, Protecting through Education RET, the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan National Assembly’s Upper House, Maihan TV and the Afghanistan Olympic Committee in 2016.

Due to the very active and public role Forogh and his family have had in Afghanistan’s art scene, they are recognised and established figures in the country. Further, Forogh’s visual art is influenced by his immediate surroundings, including topics such as suicide bombings, violence against women and war. In addition to the Taliban considering Forogh’s performances anti-Islamic, which gains him and his family the punishable-by-death label of infidels, his music also covers the Taliban’s brutalities outright.