Maren Amini and Ahmadjan Amini read from "Ahmadjan and the Hoopoe"
Ahmadjan, a young man from Afghanistan, arrives in Hamburg in 1972 with the dream of becoming an artist. What follows is a multifaceted life journey, shaped by the tensions between art and war, home and a new beginning, flight and responsibility.
In her graphic novel, his daughter, Maren Amini, tells his life story with sensitivity and humor, using Fariduddin Attar’s ancient Persian fable *The Conference of the Birds* as a framework. She says: “This book project arose out of necessity. In 2021, when the Taliban took power in Afghanistan, old wounds were reopened for my father. We wanted […] to commemorate an Afghanistan that was characterized by social and cultural diversity. […] It all began when Dad painted 1,000 birds (really, 1,000 birds!), inspired by *The Conference of the Birds*. […] That’s how I came to engage with this masterpiece of Persian literature.”
*The Conference of the Birds* is an 800-year-old story. It is convened by the hoopoe because the world of birds is in turmoil. Wars, poverty, and natural disasters reign. The birds are searching for a leader who will save their world. But they can only find salvation together, through dialogue with one another. The Persian poet Attar wrote *The Conference of the Birds* during a time of great turmoil, amid the Mongol invasion in the 13th century.
Introduction: Volker Weichsel
