In the dusty side streets of Kabul Shamsia Hassani looks anxiously in each direction before she pulls out a spray can to quickly graffiti an old wall; unlike Banksy, who doesn’t have the police, conservative locals and the Taliban to look out for.

Her spray paintings of women draped head-to-toe in blue burqas depict a sombre reality of Afghanistan’s women — hidden from society, often abused and unjustly treated behind closed doors.

“Everyone in our society forgets women and I wanted to bring them back into focus with my graffiti to remind people here that we do exist,” the 26-year-old says.

“With my graffiti, maybe I can bring some positive changes to Afghan women. I thought that after so many difficulties in my country, women face it the most with lots of limitation.”

If you thought Banksy took risks with the law when he stencilled his masterpieces across the streets of Britain, think again.

Born as a refugee in Tehran, Hassani returned to Afghanistan at a time when cinemas, music and art were slowly being introduced back into the ultra-conservative society.

Typical blue burqas painted by Shamsia

In the three decades of ongoing violence, women’s rights in Afghanistan may have improved slightly but the Taliban continue to fight a bloody war and often enough, it is women who fall victim.

Changes are happening though. Hassani is the first female graffiti artist in the country and wants to use street art to paint over the war-torn past.

She hopes her guerrilla art form will be taken up by other young women and creativity will help change Kabul’s image from a battered city into a thriving cultural capital.

“Our city needs graffiti to bring colour to our society and to cover bad memories of war from every wall and from people’s minds,” she says.

“That’s why I continue to draw graffiti. It was very new for me. Before, I had no idea what it was, but when I started and practised a little bit I felt that it’s a good thing.”

Her portraits of Afghan women are bold as their burkas flow along the wall, but also have a sad aurora around them, resembling the harsh status of women living in a patriarchal society.

On a good day, it takes up to 20 minutes to paint the tall, female forms, but Hassani keeps a lookout for police, curious crowds and even the Taliban.

“I get scared a lot because the Taliban could be a danger to me, though I do think they are really busy with political stuff right now,” she giggles nervously.

An artwork

During the Taliban’s rule, artistic expression in any form was banned under a very strict interpretation of Sharia Law.

Small but progressive steps are now paving way for women who are constantly stereotyped as oppressed to express themselves with a different image.

To be a female artist however, still has a negative connotation.

“Sometimes for a woman making art, it can be difficult because lots of small-minded people think it’s not allowed in Islam. They’re not happy with artists like me.

“Some old-fashioned people think that it’s not acceptable for women to do graffiti, to go in the street or to do art. They think it’s not a good job for a girl to do and our society is sensitive towards ladies.”

As with most graffiti artists, their work is usually met with disapproval from authorities. Spray painting public buildings can lead to harassment from owners and government officials.

The streets of Kabul are lawless and Hassani admits that it takes courage to continue her work. Carrying a spray paint can in her bag, the art enthusiast is always on the lookout for ideal walls but opportunities are limited.

For safety reasons, she prefers to work in abandoned warehouses over public places.

“Not long ago, I was walking in a very big, public space,” she explains. “I thought that maybe I could do something on a nearby dirty wall with lots of advertisements.

“I wanted to quickly draw a woman in a burqa but heard people screaming.”

It turned out that a crowd had gathered and called the owner of the building along with the police, prompting her to make a swift exit. “I tried to walk very fast, but didn’t run away,” she laughs.

Hassani, who is also an arts lecturer at Kabul University, was introduced to graffiti after British street artist Chu came to Afghanistan and did a week-long workshop on wall painting in 2010.

Due to security concerns, not many students followed in his footsteps.

For now, the police are the least of Hassani’s worries. Closed-minded attitudes in Afghanistan’s conservative society are something she aspires to change.

As for being called an Afghan version of famous street artist Banksy, Hassani doesn’t like clichés.

“I’m not a female Banksy. But some day I’m definitely going to collaborate with him,” she says.

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, July 20th, 2014