Zia Forogh

Visual artist, painter, and musician currently based in Germany, Zia Forogh studied Painting at Herat University and later completed his Master’s degree in Painting and Conceptual Art at Kabul University. For more than a decade, he taught painting and drawing at the Kabul Institute of Fine Arts. Forogh’s artistic practice explores themes of memory, homeland, migration, identity, war, and human experience. Working across oil, acrylic, and mixed media, he has also used bitumen (tar) as a distinctive artistic material since 2011. Through its dark, physical qualities, he explores ideas of memory, violence, loss, survival, and resilience.

Now living with his family in the Freiburg region of Germany, Forogh continues to develop his visual practice while creating new bodies of work centered on homeland, migration, collective memory, displacement, and the human experience of conflict and social change. Alongside his visual art, Forogh is also active as a singer, songwriter, and dambura player. His musical work draws particularly on Persian and Hazaragi language, poetry, and cultural traditions. Through both painting and music, Zia Forogh seeks to connect personal memory with broader human experiences and to give artistic form to stories of identity, displacement, loss, and belonging.

Case background and support provided

Initiative pour la Liberté Artistique (ILA) supported Zia Foroqh in his relocation from Afghanistan to Germany through the German government’s humanitarian visa program.

Following the approval of his visa, ILA supported Zia throughout the relocation process, including consultation and coordination in Afghanistan and Pakistan, assistance with his journey from Afghanistan to Pakistan, and support during the visa process in Pakistan. After receiving his visa in Pakistan, ILA continued to support his arrival and transition to Germany.

Once in Germany, ILA provided ongoing administrative support, consultation, and guidance as Zia established himself and continued his artistic practice. In addition, ILA organized a residency program for Zia in collaboration with Artists at Risk (AR) in Berlin, creating an opportunity for him to develop his artistic work in a safe and supportive environment.

The support covered the different stages of Zia’s relocation — from Afghanistan to Pakistan and finally to Germany— with continued consultation and assistance throughout the process.