Nabila Horakhsh is a visual artist from Afghanistan whose practice reflects personal experience and the ongoing struggles faced by her community.
She graduated from Kabul University with a degree in Persian–Dari Literature and began her journey into contemporary visual art in 2008 at the Center for Contemporary Arts Afghanistan (CCAA). Her work has since been exhibited in Afghanistan, across Europe, Canada, India and the United Arab Emirates.
As a co-founder of Berang Arts in Kabul, she helped organize exhibitions, seminars and workshops supporting emerging artists. Her projects challenge public perceptions of contemporary art while addressing gender inequality and the complex realities of life in Afghanistan.
Following the fall of the Afghan Republic, she continued her artistic practice in exile in Germany from 2022. She completed a nine-month artist-in-residence program at HFBK Hamburg supported by the Martin Roth Initiative.
Working across photography, painting, drawing and collage, Horakhsh gives voice to untold stories and inner narratives shaped by the tension between resistance to darkness and a hopeful yearning for light. Sufism is a vital source of energy, spiritual connection and inner strength in her work.
Her practice speaks of love and unity as forces essential to humanity’s survival, inviting viewers into a reflective space where suffering, resistance and hope coexist.
