Malina Suliman

Malina Suliman
Born	1990 (age 33–34)[1] Kandahar, Afghanistan

Malina Suliman (born 1990) is an Afghan graffiti artist, metalworker and painter. She was born in Kabul. As a child, she and her family were forced to flee her home province to live in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Her work is considered to challenge traditional Muslim culture like the burqa. According to Suliman, "The burqa is a way of controlling, but in the name of respect. Every culture or religion gives a different name for the burqa. It is honor, culture, and religion. Really, it just controls the woman and keeps her inside." Malina's work has gained the attention of the Taliban and traditional Muslims, resulting in having received threats from the Taliban towards Suliman and her family.^[2] The artist was subject to physical threats, rocks have been thrown at her as she conducts her work.^[3]

Not only does Malina worry about the Taliban, but her family who disagrees with her decision to create art. Creating art that displays the human body like Malina's motif, the skeleton in a burqa, is seen as idol worship. To the Taliban and other traditional Muslims, Malina's artwork is un-Islamic and Suliman's parents were embarrassed. Because of this her parents went the distance and locked Malina in their house for nearly a year, which had the opposite effect they were hoping for. Malina claimed that, “Today, whatever I am doing for art, it’s all because of that one year in which I was staying in a home.”^[4] Suliman spends her time holding art exhibits around the world. In December 2019, Malina intended to hold a lecture on the colonization of art in Rome but it was canceled.