Overview: Threshold – Sharjah Biennial 15th: Thinking Historically in the Present
Threshold (2022) sheds light on the inequality women face in the education system in
Afghanistan. Taliban’s education ban in 2021 posed a direct obstacle to women’s access to
education, which is a disturbing history recurrence of Amiri’s memory as a schoolgirl in 1996
Kabul. The artist recreated the classroom settings of a secondary classroom from her childhood
memory and intentionally distorted the material details and space arrangements in an effort to
change the narrative around women’s education in Afghanistan.
The installation consists of a mural-sized textile piece of black school-girl uniforms and eighteen
sets of wooden school tables and benches that were often used in Afghan secondary schools.
As many of the school infrastructures in Afghanistan were donated by international, especially
Western, NGOs, the investigation of materials in this installation is a critical commentary on the
interwoven geopolitics behind Afghanistan's education systems. The tender fabrics in contrast to
the hard-edge wooden benches bring forth the overlooked dimension of women’s experience in
the classroom, including the emotional, intellectual, and aspirational.
Threshold. 2022 – Cotton and cotton black threads – 609 L x 12 W x 274 H
Installation view, Threshold, Sharjah Biennial 15th: Thinking Historically in the Present, (Kalba Kindergarten, UAE)
Installation view, Threshold, Sharjah Biennial 15th: Thinking Historically in the Present, (Kalba Kindergarten, UAE)
Installation view, Threshold, Sharjah Biennial 15th: Thinking Historically in the Present, (Kalba Kindergarten, UAE)
Installation view, Threshold, Sharjah Biennial 15th: Thinking Historically in the Present, (Kalba Kindergarten, UAE)
Installation view, Threshold, Sharjah Biennial 15th: Thinking Historically in the Present, (Kalba Kindergarten, UAE)
Installation view, Threshold, Sharjah Biennial 15th: Thinking Historically in the Present, (Kalba Kindergarten, UAE)