Mohsin Taasha

Mohsin Taasha, a visual artist from Afghanistan from the Hazara community and currently based in France, began his artistic journey during his high school years. He earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Beacon House National University (BNU) in Lahore, Pakistan, in 2017.
Primarily focusing on paintings, drawing, video, and installations, Taasha has showcased his works internationally since 2010. His exhibitions include prestigious events such as Documenta 13 in Kassel-Kabul, Germany (2012), the 56th Venice Biennale in Venice, Italy (2015), Nord Art in Budelsdorf, Germany (2018), and others like Kharmohra: Art under Fire in Afghanistan at MUCEM in Marseille, France (2019). His recent exhibitions include The Other Kabul: Remains of the Garden at Kunst Museum Thun in Switzerland (2022) and participation in the Geneva Art Fair in 2023.
 
The question of identity as a nation, an ethnic, as people or tribe is losing its sense day by day, however despite this fact, in an artist’s works there are always tangible traces of his or her own identity as a single person or as part of a specific group of people, geography, society or origins that remain as a non-erasable part of the artwork anyway.
"IDENTITY is also a personal need for me, perhaps a need for all human beings to retain their origins, the past and the path towards back home as the world is changing with this very highly speed paces of our time where the bombardments of information in the Virtual World takes human beings as hostages, so in order to get free and to be ourselves, we need to refer to a Zero Point as a reference point and that’s our IDENTITY whether as humans, individuals or as communities, societies or nations. IDENTITY shows us who we were, who we are, who we will be.
Likewise in my works the question of IDENTITY whether as an Artistic Style or as a human being with a specific origin has been very important and remains very strong, perhaps because I belong to a specific group of people whose specific IDENTITY caused them troubles and brought them catastrophic consequences such as systematic genocides in their history, hence here the IDENTITY becomes something crucial whether visually or thematically in the DNA of my artworks." 
 
Education
2013-2017 BFA Visual Arts – Beacon House National University, (BNU) Lahore, Pakistan
2010 High school Diploma – Institute of Fine Arts, Kabul, Afghanistan
 
Residences
2022-2023 Artist in Residency _ Villa Arson, National School of Fine Arts, Nice, France
2021 Artist in Residency _ Triangle Astérides, Friche la Belle de Mai _ Marseille, France
2019 Artist in Residency _ Silk Road Cultural Initiative (SRCI) at Britto Art Trust, Dhaka, Bangladesh
 
Solo Exhibitions
2020 Cite specific installation _ Chihil Sutun garden, Kabul, Afghanistan
2019 The Reds movement _ live performance, Pule Surkh, Kabul, Afghanistan
2016 26349 Afghani _ paintings, Afghanistan Cultural House, Kabul, Afghanistan
2016 Beyond the curtain _ miniature paintings, Theca Gallery, Milan, Italy
2013 Reminiscence _ miniature paintings, Institute of France in Afghanistan (IFA)
 
Selected Group Exhibitions
2024 Can Afghans speak? _ paintings, Kunsthall 3,14 Gallery, Bergen, Norway
2023 Invisible Power – striving for Femininity and identity _ painting, ACUD Gallery, Berlin, Germany
2023 Afghanistan: weaving the horizon to infinity _ the Méjan association, Arles, France
2023 Art Fair _ Salon d’art, Palexpo, Geneva, Switzerland
2022 Khoda Hafez _ L’Afghanistan au-dela des Frontières, Dominique Fiat Gallery, Paris, France 2022 Seeking Freedom _ café Binario49 and cultural association Casa d'Altri, Italy
2022 Architectures of Destruction _ Kunsthafen im Rhenania, Cologne, Germany
2022 The Other Kabul. Remains of the Garden _ Kunst Museum, Thun, Switzerland
2021 Kharmohra, Après la neige festival _ le Chambon-sur-Lignon, France
2021 The Reds movement _ live performance, Friche la Belle de Mai, Marseille, France
2019 Kharmohra, Art under fire in Afghanistan _ MUCEM museum, Marseille, France
2019 Made in Afghanistan _ Etihad Modern art gallery, Abu Dhabi, UAE
2019 Absence of the present _ Contemporary art exhibition, Nomad Gallery, Islamabad, Pakistan
2018 Nord Art 2018 _ Art competition and exhibition, Büdelsdorf, Germany
2017 Nimrouz _ First Afghan contemporary art in Tehran, Niavaran Palace, Tehran, Iran
2017 BFA Degree Show _ Beacon House National University (BNU), Lahore, Pakistan
2015 The Great Game _ 56° Venice Biennale, Iran Pavilion, Venice, Italy
2015 The collective contemporary art exhibition _ Theca Gallery, Milan, Italy
2014 The oldest ones among us are thirty years old (1961-1991) Art Fair_ Budapest, Hungry
2014 I was used to be there _ Lithuanian Art fair, Exhibition center (Vilnius), Lithuania
2013 Imago mundi canvas project – painting exhibition, Milan, Italy
2012 DOCUMENTA 13 _ Kassel, Germany & Kabul, Afghanistan
2010 Slick Orient 2010 _ Nikki Diana Marquardt Gallery, Paris, France
2010 Afghan Contemporary Art Prize _ Turquoise Mountain, Bagh-e Babur, Kabul, Afghanistan