Exiled painter depicts 'slow disappearance' of Afghan women under Taliban

FILE PHOTO: Afghan refugee Murad Sharifi poses for a picture in Budapest, Hungary, September 27, 2021. REUTERS/Bernadett Szabo

BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Murad Sharifi, a refugee from Afghanistan, works at a kebab place and lives in a shelter for the homeless in Budapest's outskirts. His tiny room is filled with dozens of paintings depicting a colourful but ominous world, of Afghan women clad in long black burqa gowns, surrounded by hostile men.

Sharifi, who fled to Hungary during the 2015 migration wave with tens of thousands of other asylum-seekers, says it is his "obligation" to show the oppression faced by women in his home country, worsening since the Taliban takeover in August.