In August 2021, Sharifa Sharifi was working as general manager of the Afghan National Gallery in Herat, Afghanistan’s third largest city, when the government collapsed and the Taliban took control of her country. As an employee of the fallen government, a professional woman, an outspoken advocate for women’s rights, and an artist whose paintings celebrated the female body, Sharifa, who goes by the name Elja, knew her life was in grave danger.

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