Asefi Art Gallery

In the years before the Taliban seized power, Dr. Asefi's paintings hung in Afghanistan's most important buildings — the presidential palace, the Foreign Ministry, the Prime Minister's residence. More than sixty of his works were displayed between the Arg and the Foreign Ministry alone. He used the income from these commissions to purchase a plot of land in Kabul. In 2003, he founded the Asefi Art Gallery on that land, driven by a conviction that Afghanistan needed accessible, academic art spaces. Over the following years, he built a mixed-use, five-story building. In 2012, he added a sixth floor, where his family lived.

The Asefi Art Gallery stands as one of the largest private gallery spaces in Kabul — second in size only to the National Gallery of Afghanistan. The six-story building was designed as a mixed-use cultural center, housing gallery floors for permanent and rotating exhibitions alongside spaces for education and community engagement. For a time, the building also housed a university. The scale of the structure reflected the scale of Dr. Asefi's ambition: not merely a place to display his own work, but a cultural institution capable of serving a city and a country.

By the time of its formal inauguration in 2015, the gallery was decorated with 250 artworks spanning Dr. Asefi's four-decade career. Hand-carved wooden details crafted by master artisans adorned the interior, creating an environment that honored both the building's cultural heritage and the paintings it housed. Each floor told a different chapter of Dr. Asefi's artistic journey — from the early landscapes and portraits of the 1980s to the politically charged works of the conflict years, to the abstract and symbolic canvases of his mature period.

The Asefi Art Gallery was never intended as a static display space. It was a living center of cultural education. Dr. Asefi organized painting classes that drew dozens of young Afghans eager to learn. Students studied technique, art history, and the cultural traditions of Afghanistan under the guidance of one of the country's most accomplished painters. The gallery also welcomed diverse groups of visitors — from students and families to dignitaries and international guests — each visit becoming a journey through Afghan history and artistic expression. For Asefi, teaching was inseparable from his broader mission: reconnecting a war-scarred generation with its cultural heritage.

In 2014, while preparing for the gallery's formal opening, Dr. Asefi received a phone call from the Taliban. They warned him that they were aware of his affiliations with American officials and that the building housed a university with female students who did not conform to the Taliban's dress codes. He cancelled the opening and had the university vacate the premises. About six months later, a bomb detonated at the south gate of the gallery property, causing considerable damage to the information office. About six months after that, a far larger bomb — packed inside a car — detonated along the west wall on the main road. The explosion shattered the gallery's glass facade, destroyed most of the window frames, and caused extensive damage to the walls, ceilings, and paintings inside. Dr. Asefi's wife and sons were in the building; his son Najim was in the adjacent information office. Mosawer, still a teenager, was at school. Several family members sustained injuries. The psychological toll was severe — Mosawer struggled for months afterward.

Dr. Asefi submitted requests to the Afghan government for assistance with repairs. He received none. Over the next several years, he spent a considerable amount of his own money rebuilding the gallery. His only installation artwork — a sculpture assembled from the debris of the bombing — stands as a testament to what was endured and a question directed at those responsible: Why were innocent Afghans the target? The gallery reopened in 2018. In the same year, Dr. Asefi was appointed cultural advisor to the Meshrano Jirga, the Upper House of the Afghanistan Parliament. The gallery operated continuously from 2018 until May 10, 2021.

When the Taliban returned to Kabul in August 2021, Dr. Asefi's sons Najim and Mosawer were still in the gallery building. They acted quickly — installing a reinforced metal gate behind the existing wooden entrance and moving all potentially offending paintings to the family's residence on the top floor. Several works were hidden in a concealed room; others were disguised as best they could manage. In October 2021, Taliban soldiers came to the property searching for weapons and contraband. There was no electricity, and it was late in the day. They found nothing of interest and left. The gallery building still stands in Kabul, but it is no longer operational as a gallery. Dr. Asefi continues his artistic mission from Tempe, Arizona, where he has been based since April 2022 as a research scholar at Arizona State University.