Art Works Projects

Photo by Jean Chung

As we enter the summer of 2026, we at ART WORKS Projects are reminded that it will soon be five years since the take over by the current Taliban-led government. Since August 15, 2021, 20 million Afghan women and girls have lived under increasingly draconian strictures and have had their right to learn, work, speak, travel, move, and simply exist curtailed in an extraordinary manner. These rules, laid out by a vast number of edicts, are enforced with violence and fear, and yet - Afghan women and their allies continue to advocate for themselves.

Art Works Projects began its work with Afghan women under the “Women Between Peace and War: Afghanistan” exhibition, created in 2012 with Afghan women leaders and UN Women. Since that time, their world has changed, and many rights illustrated in the exhibition are now lost - but not forgotten.

“The Sharp Edge of Peace”, produced by MIRA Studios & Roya Film House, showcases the continuing the high-stakes efforts of Afghan women to advocate in global policy settings. AWP is pleased to see our exhibition presented in collaboration with select film screenings and is committed to continuing to demand that Afghan women and girls are provided the rights they, and all of us, are due. Recent installations such the one hosted by Luxembourg’s Permanent Mission to the UN during the Commission on the Status of Women provide an opportunity to engage with diplomatic leaders who can and should be committed to change.

This International Women’s Day, we’re celebrating the women who hold the camera and the women who choose to stand in front of it. 

All eyes have been on the war in Iran, as news reports indicate airstrikes have killed hundreds of civilians since the start of the bombings across major cities. As history repeats itself, the attitudes of military leaders remain constant: civilian deaths are wartime collateral. 

Today, we highlight the work of 2023 Emerging Lens Fellow, Astrig Agopian, a French-Lebanese-Armenian journalist, documentary photographer, and filmmaker, whose work focuses on the intersection between geopolitics, territory, marginality and memory. She documents identity struggles, human rights issues and long-term consequences of conflicts, mainly covering Europe, the South Caucasus and the Middle East. Her project, “Like There’s No Tomorrow,” zeroes in on the voices of forcibly displaced Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh, amplifying stories of resilience as this population faces cultural erasure.

As a woman reporting in conflict zones, has experienced harassment, threats, and the persistent barrier of not being taken seriously — “making it even harder to get information.” But she continues, driven by the conviction that “documenting and giving people a voice is all that matters.” 

Astrig’s project reminds us why programs like Emerging Lens must center access, safety, and aftercare as critical support components to the work we do together.