The Courage to Create: Art, Humanity and Religious Freedom | Panel Discussion

How does artistic expression endure when freedom is under threat? 

This expert panel will explore how art serves as a tool of resistance and resilience, and ways cultural, political and religious forces shape artistic expression. Inspired by the life and work of Dr. Mohammad Yousof Asefi, panelists will discuss the relationship between creativity, religious freedom and cultural heritage, as well as the vital role artists play in preserving memory, strengthening communities and sustaining the human spirit. 
 

This event is made possible through a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the generous philanthropy of private donors to the Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict. Held in association with the Repression, Resilience and Renewal: Religious freedom and the art of Dr. Mohammad Yousof Asefi and the art of Dr. Mohammad Yousof Asefi exhibit.

Panelists will include:

Dr. Mohammad Yousof Asefi
Artist-in-Residence, Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict
In Afghanistan, Asefi balanced a medical career with his passion for painting after earning his medical degree from Kabul Medical University. Under the Taliban in the 1990s, he risked his life to preserve Afghan art by concealing human and animal figures in more than 120 paintings, protecting them from destruction. Forced to flee Afghanistan in 2021 after the Taliban regained power, he now serves as artist-in-residence at Arizona State University’s Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict, where he continues creating and sharing his art while preserving Afghanistan’s artistic heritage.

Roya Sadat
Internationally acclaimed Afghan filmmaker
Sadat is an internationally acclaimed Afghan filmmaker whose transformative storytelling across film, television and stage gives voice to women’s stories and inspires social change. Afghanistan’s first female filmmaker, she has won more than 50 international awards, including the International Women of Courage Award and, despite being forced into exile after the Taliban’s return in 2021, continues to champion women’s rights and social justice through her films and as co-founder of Afghanistan’s first female-led production company and the Herat International Women’s Film Festival. 

Knox Thames
Executive Director of the Everett Center for Global Religious 
Freedom Human rights lawyer and religious freedom advocate
Thames is a globally recognized human rights lawyer, advocate and author who has spent more than two decades promoting human rights, defending religious minorities and combating persecution worldwide. A former U.S. State Department Special Advisor for Religious Minorities under the Bush, Obama and Trump administrations, he continues to advance global religious freedom through his leadership, writing and policy work, including his book, "Ending Persecution: Charting the Path to Global Religious Freedom."