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On a busy street in Kabul, a young artist steps into traffic wearing a steel sculpture she has shaped around her breasts and buttocks. She calls the piece Armour. Within minutes, a crowd gathers. Days later, death threats force her to flee the country.

Today, Afghan artist Kubra Khademi lives in exile in France, creating bold multidisciplinary works that confront patriarchy while reclaiming the female body as a site of power, sexuality and resistance. Drawing on personal history and the cultures she grew up in across Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan, her art blends performance, painting and symbolism to challenge deeply rooted taboos around women’s bodies.

For her latest series, Origin of the Universe, Khademi paints surreal scenes of women giving birth to animals — images inspired by a story her grandmother once told her about strength and survival.

Following her creative process, Sahar Zand joins Khademi in her studio as she paints one of the works, revealing how memory, exile and defiance are transformed into art.