New Mural Recreates Kabul Street Art Designs
In late April, art that once graced powerful social justice murals in Afghanistan was re-created on the walls of Proctor Dining Hall. This new addition to Middlebury’s public art collection is the result of a mural painting project, “Art, Migration, and Belonging.” It was organized by Sajia Yaqouby ’25.5, a history of art and architecture major and Sarah Rogers, visiting assistant professor of history of art and architectural studies, with support from the Axinn Center for the Humanities’ Mellon Foundation Humanities For All Times initiative. Afghan art activists from the ArtLords collective, along with students and community members, brought the mural to life over two days.
ArtLords was founded in 2014 in Kabul, Afghanistan, and in the pre-Taliban years they transformed the city’s blank walls—and ultimately spaces throughout Afghanistan—into canvases promoting hope, peace, and social change. They were invited to recreate several of the murals at Middlebury that the Taliban had whitewashed since resuming power in the country.
New Public Art at Proctor Dining Hall
Sajia Yaqouby’s ‘25.5 research on art, migration, and belonging led to a campus mural with ArtLords.
“Because this was whitewashed back in Kabul, we are bringing it back, reclaiming our art and identity back here in Vermont,” said Abdullah Khan, one of the members of the ArtLords collective. “We want to be able to express ourselves freely and to be able to reclaim what we lost.”
The art itself reflects that sentiment. One of the murals features lines in Persian calligraphy of the poet Rumi, saying, “Whoever remains distant from their roots; One day, again, they will seek to reunite.”
“Hopefully, every time a student passes by this wall or this mural, they will remember that they belong, and hopefully they feel at home here at Middlebury,” said Yaqouby.
The mural project was sponsored by the Committee on Art in Public Places, the Middlebury College Museum of Art, the Committee of the Arts, the Department of the History of Art and Architecture, the Department of International and Global Studies—Middle East and North African Studies, the Axinn Center for the Humanities—Mellon Foundation’s Humanities for All Times initiative, the Elizabeth Hackett Robinson ’84 Innovation Hub, and the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and was informed by class discussions in Art, Migration, and Museums, fall 2024 and fall 2025, and Modern Art, fall 2025.