Return

This summer I returned to a place that captured my attention in Afghanistan a year and a half ago.  The former government office (and former hotel) in Istalif is unoccupied, unless you count bushels of grass and several charred cooking pots.  But the place still has a magnetism.  It became the subject of the first watercolor I did of Afghanistan, and then the first oil painting in the renamed series (Un)governed Spaces.  

In the image, we are looking out from the upper floors past a huge chunk of concrete wall dangling by the iron rebar still holding it in place.  This damage was caused during Afghanistan's civil war, and yet the building has not been rebuilt.  

This summer, I was overwhelmed to be in this place not only because of its character and historical resonance, but by memory of having painting it.  Building the image over several months, picking apart each facet of brick, or sky, had created a mental map of the place for me.  To see it in person was both jarring and familiar.

Here is a view from nearly the same angle from this summer.  The gardens are just out of view, but the container is visible as is a different car, from the first painting.