Art in the Crossfire

Abdul Shokoor Khusrawy developed a passion for art at age seven while recovering from a broken femur bone in his right leg, which was in a cast for more than two years in Kabul, Afghanistan. He discovered that he was not going to fully recover and walk normally, and he was diagnosed and declared as a disabled person for the rest of his life.Shokoor at the age of seven was supposed to enroll in first grade, but instead he was in and out of the hospitals for two years. He eventually got a little better and entered school at the age of nine, but not without first going through repeated rejections because of his age.Shokoor was about to graduate from high school when Afghanistan was invaded by the USSR. The atrocities of the brutal invasion of the USSR led to a massive refugee influx and mass murder of Afghan civilians. Soon, Afghanistan turned into a battle zone, marked as the darkest chapter of the Afghan recent history. The United Nations and the NATO got involved in bringing peace to Afghanistan; but after decades of trying they eventually realized that the Afghans oppose any sort of foreign interference, fighting the puppet government of Afghanistan and the NATO forces simultaneously. Millions have lost their lives; cities and villages are in ruins. Fear, anxiety, financial hardships, health crises, and chaos continue to threaten the lives of Afghans. Shokoor, as a young yet vulnerable young man, has developed a passion for painting while witnessing these horrors, and he started to draw and paint these events, many images of which are very disturbing.While the war was going on, most schools around the capital city of Kabul were open on and off and were sometimes hit by bullets and rockets. Yet students continued to go to school, risking their lives by being only a bullet away from being killed. Shokoor was among them. He eventually graduated and was enrolled to Kabul University, where every student was living their lives day by day, not knowing whether or not they would make it to school the next day.Shokoor was interested in marrying someone whom he loved, but he was going through financial hardship and had to finish school. He found a job working after school at a construction site to cover his expenses, buy art supplies, and bring food to the table for his new bride who was a housemaker without any educational background. Once, while Shokoor was digging at the base of a building, one of his coworkers accidentally hit Shokoor in the side with a pick mattock, which punctured his kidney. He was taken to a hospital while he was unconscious. He had to stay home for a while to recover while going through financial hardship. However, the newlywed was happy to be alive.War was intensifying around Kabul, and Shokoor as a new graduate had just gotten a new job at the National Gallery and later on at Kabul Museum, not knowing that he was going to be stuck for a week inside the museum while the militants were fighting each other right outside the museum at Darul-Aman, Kabul.A week later Shokoor managed to get home, and he was happy to see his wife. Soon they packed and left their beloved home and sought refuge in the neighboring country of Pakistan, only to find out that they were going to be further devastated. They later return to Kabul hoping to rebuild their shattered lives, not knowing that they were returning to the ruined city where his wife would die during childbirth. Shokoor saw no other choice but to endure, persevere, and stay alive. He left Afghanistan and came to America for safety and a better life, away from fear and wars.Shokoor is one of the luckiest people to get out of a war zone and come to America, where he had hopes and dreams of establishing a new life and make a difference in people’s lives through his art and story. His art exhibition in the US had received great awards and recognitions. Some of his paintings were displayed at the Museum of the Sun City in Arizona. Next, Shokoor wanted to open an