SHAFAQNA- Marzia Panahi , 21, set up the Namad Gallery at the height of the coronavirus pandemic in September in the Afghan capital.
Panahi watches as one of the young artists she has just employed applies paint to a framed felt canvas propped up against a easel. Her aim was to revive the use of felt in art, to showcase her war-torn country’s creativity and to try to create jobs for young people hit hard by the pandemic and the economic crisis it has caused.
“When COVID-19 cases increased in Afghanistan, I saw how unemployment was getting higher, and when we realized how deadly poverty can be…I put together a team of young people so that we could at least be useful to ourselves and those around us, and become entrepreneurs,” she said.
The international relations student’s company now employs 10 people, including three artists, and sells paintings to local art lovers for between $100 and $200 each, Reuters reported.