Malina Suliman Quotes

• The burqa is a way of controlling the woman, but in the name of respect. Every culture or religion gives a different name for the burqa. It is honor, or culture, or religion. Really, it just controls the woman and keeps her inside.

  Malina Suliman

  Names, Giving, Honor

  "Afghan graffiti artist risks her life to challenge the burqa under the Taliban". Interview with Katie Booth, womenintheworld.com. May 21, 2015.

  40 Copiar cita

• When I was 12 my brother told me I had to wear the burqa, but I really wanted to play, because I was a child. It's an age you want to play outside and have a good time. And they told me I had to wear it or I couldn't leave the home. I felt it was controlling me, because when I wore it I felt I wasn't a child anymore.

  Malina Suliman

  Brother, Children, Home

  "Afghan graffiti artist risks her life to challenge the burqa under the Taliban". Interview with Katie Booth, nytlive.nytimes.com. May 21, 2015.

  17 Copiar cita

• In Afghanistan I was doing street art because it was more open, but when I had a show, only men would come. I said, I'm an artist not only for men, but for women too. So that's why I like graffiti.

  Malina Suliman

  Art, Men, Graffiti

  "Afghan graffiti artist risks her life to challenge the burqa under the Taliban". Interview with Katie Booth, womenintheworld.com. May 21, 2015.

  6 Copiar cita

• If I start talking about my own hopes, it'll take hours. The biggest hope is that there's not any more discrimination between men and women. That women could have equal rights. It's very painful when you see in your family that a brother can do anything he wants, but at the same age, you can't.

  Malina Suliman

  Brother, Men, Rights

  "Afghan graffiti artist risks her life to challenge the burqa under the Taliban". Interview with Katie Booth, womenintheworld.com. May 21, 2015.

  8 Copiar cita

• All the work I did was to challenge politics, culture, and women's rights. I felt like I really wanted to break out. That's why I wanted to use graffiti. It's more open. I don't need people to come to an exhibition. Graffiti gives a voice to the walls.

  Malina Suliman

  Wall, Rights, Voice

  "Afghan graffiti artist risks her life to challenge the burqa under the Taliban". Interview with Katie Booth, womenintheworld.com. May 21, 2015.

  9 Copiar cita

• There are two ways. One is to be a puppet, follow the culture, and do whatever they want. That was mentally disturbing to me, and still is. And the other way is to go out. I knew there would be problems from my family, and also from my environment. But I thought that physical pain would be better than the mental pain. And I started working as an artist.

  Malina Suliman

  Pain, Artist, Two

  "Afghan graffiti artist risks her life to challenge the burqa under the Taliban". Interview with Katie Booth, womenintheworld.com. May 21, 2015.

  4 Copiar cita

• I have always used the burqa because men are using the burqa in the name of culture and religion to take freedom from women. Women are alive, they have their own wishes and desires, but all the time they have to sacrifice that. They are a kind of skeleton, which doesn't have muscles. They're just breathing, like a kind of puppet that barely exists. If women spoke for their rights, they were beaten by their husbands. So they don't have a voice. They lose their voices and their wishes and their happiness.

  Malina Suliman

  Husband, Sacrifice, Men

  "Afghan graffiti artist risks her life to challenge the burqa under the Taliban". Interview with Katie Booth, womenintheworld.com. May 21, 2015.

  16 Copiar cita

• Durante los 10 meses que pasé en Afganistán después de la universidad, sentí que no tenía derechos. Sentía que no existía. Era como si yo fuera su muñeca y estuviera perdida, de alguna manera. El marido de mi hermana me llevó a una galería de arte. Tuvo un gran efecto en mí.

  Malina Suliman

  Art, Husband, Rights

  "Afghan graffiti artist risks her life to challenge the burqa under the Taliban". Interview with Katie Booth, womenintheworld.com. May 21, 2015.

  4 Copiar cita

• If people say harsh words to me though, I don't care. It's a risk to my life. The Taliban don't want us to be working, so they'll shoot us. And women who break their rules, they put acid on them. I said, if they shoot me, OK, but if they put acid on me, I will be alive as a dead body. I was always so afraid of that.

  Malina Suliman

  People, Risk, Alive

  "Afghan graffiti artist risks her life to challenge the burqa under the Taliban". Interview with Katie Booth, womenintheworld.com. May 21, 2015.

  4 Copiar cita

• If a woman is wearing the burqa, it's not her wish. It's more that she feels secure from the Taliban, secure from acid if she were to show her face.

  Malina Suliman

  Wish, Faces, Acid

  "Afghan graffiti artist risks her life to challenge the burqa under the Taliban". Interview with Katie Booth, womenintheworld.com. May 21, 2015.

  22 Copiar cita

• When I came back from Pakistan, I wanted to take computer classes nearby. I asked my brother. I was in my home, cooking for my family, and all our relatives and guests. But I said, "I want to live my life as a woman, but I want to study." But, he told me, "Just study at home, you don't need to go out." He said, "If you go to the courses, what will our relatives say? They will lose respect for us." They told me, "We know you're feeling different, but we cannot do anything about it."

  Malina Suliman

  Brother, Home, Class

  "Afghan graffiti artist risks her life to challenge the burqa under the Taliban". Interview with Katie Booth, womenintheworld.com. May 21, 2015.

  4 Copiar cita

• Afghans think the burqa is a permanent part of culture. But, if you bring it to Europe, how would people react? Afghanistan doesn't want to change its culture, but it can change, all the time. So why are Afghans giving so much value to it? The burqa is not natural. It's not human nature.

  Malina Suliman

  Pensar, Europa, Gente

  "Afghan graffiti artist risks her life to challenge the burqa under the Taliban". Interview with Katie Booth, womenintheworld.com. May 21, 2015.

  9 Copiar cita

• I felt strange in my own family, because I had a very liberal mind, and I would ask myself, "Why is there this discrimination between men and women?" In our culture, the man should be outside and the woman should be at home. I wanted to study, or meet my friends, and I couldn't. And I felt very different.

  Malina Suliman

  Hogar, Hombres, Mente

  "Afghan graffiti artist risks her life to challenge the burqa under the Taliban". Interview with Katie Booth, nytlive.nytimes.com. May 21, 2015.

  4 Copiar cita