Graffiti art brightens war-torn Afghan capital

A group of women in burqas  rises from the sea to symbolise cleanliness, while further  down a factory wall a bus with no wheels and crammed with  passengers is a stark comment on war-torn Kabul''s appalling  public transport.

A new Afghan art collective called Roshd, or "growth", has  brought street art and graffiti to the conservative Muslim  nation's capital, starting with a mural on a three metre (10  feet) high wall in an industrial park.

Soon they hope to take their creativity and commentary to  the dusty city centre, where blast walls, scrawled  advertisements, political propaganda and armed guards are more  usual sights.

Using spray paint for the first time, Ommolbanin Shamsia  Hassani, 22, who is due to start teaching at Kabul University's fine art faculty, painted the burqa-clad group.

"Water is very clean and I want to show the women are  clean too," said Hassani. "It was the first time I was  painting a big wall, I have always painted on small canvas ...  I have become very tired because it's so big."

Hassani and the other artists were working with a British  graffiti artist who goes by the name Chu, who has been  painting on walls for 30 years and has done projects including  painting an entire train.

He travelled from London for a one-week workshop.

"In this very short space of time they have absorbed all  the skills necessary to paint something huge," Chu said. "It's  just magical what''s been happening before my eyes ... The end  result is that they just want to paint more."

Some signed up for the workshop knowing almost nothing  about the essence of the art form.

"There is one reaction I will never forget and it was a  concern that a big painting would be disturbing," said Chu. "I  said, 'that's the point'."

Farid Khurrami, 29, a sculpture artist, painted the bus  with no wheels moving past a man firing a gun in a bid to  spotlight how bad public transport is in Kabul.

"People are suffering very much in Kabul," he said. "People will be very surprised by this new form of art, it is  a better way to communicate with a broader audience."

"My message will be more about the peace and the money  which the government is spending more on the military, I want  it to be used more on the arts," he said of his future graffiti plans.

Chu said that he hopes his students continue to paint more  graffiti. "The more graffiti the better, Afghanistan will  rock," he said.