Uprooted: From Afghanistan to Connecticut

Uprooted: Afghanistan to Connecticut features the artwork of two Afghan artists, Alibaba Awrang and Matin Malikzada, who were displaced by the Taliban’s rise to power in 2021. As humanitarian refugees, these men and their families resettled in New Milford, CT, where they have been embraced by the community yet continue to be challenged by language, cultural, and material barriers. Through their artwork, Awrang and Malikzada share the experience of being uprooted from their homeland and the physical and emotional process of creating a new home in Connecticut.

More about this exhibition

Matin Malikzada is a seventh-generation master potter known for the elegance of his designs and the proprietary glazes of his native Istalif, Afghanistan. In his new home in CT, Malikzada is experimenting with ways to achieve glazes of similar quality and appearance, while working with completely different materials. Alibaba Awrang, a calligrapher and painter, uses his artwork to process the emotional experience of his dislocation and the hopes and challenges of his new life in the United States.