An Assembly of Moths: Afghanistan One Year Later

A Gathering Through Art

Streamed live August 25, 2022 at 12pm EDT.

Featured artists include: filmmaker Ali Baluch, violinists Trina Basu & Arun Ramamurthy, rabab player Qais Essar, poet Seelai Karzai, dancer Parul Shah, interdisciplinary artist Zelikha Shoja, poet Liala Zaray, and more.

August 15, 2022 marks the one-year anniversary of the precipitous events in Afghanistan. The Afghan American Artists & Writers Association (AAAWA), in collaboration with City Lore, presents a gathering of Afghan and Afghan American artists and friends to reflect on this moment and to collectively affirm our humanity, preservation, and imagination through music, poetry, visual art, and dance. We come together in community and for community. We come together out of love and grief, and yet more love. We assemble with the ferocity of moths toward that which is most luminous and most enduring.

The event is free, though we welcome donations to support AAAWA’s work in advocating for and amplifying the work of artists of Afghan heritage.

Assembly of Moths takes its title from a poem of the same name by Khalilullah Khalili. The poster was designed by Mohammad Sabir.

Watch the full event here.