Kabir was born in Afghanistan and left the country for Germany as a refugee in 1990. From there, he migrated to Australia, where he started his career as an artist in 1995. Kabir studied Graphic Design at the University of Canberra and subsequently worked as Head Graphic Designer at the Australian National University. Kabir’s other qualifcations include a Diploma in Fine Arts from Seaforth TAFE, Sydney, where he majored in painting and he is looking to complete his MA in Fine Arts in the near future. Kabir has displayed his artwork in several solo and group exhibitions and produces graphic art designs for posters and publications. Much of his art work and paintings have focussed on issues which have featured prominently in his life, including the repercussions of more than three decades of war in Afghanistan and the ensuing diaspora, of conflict, trauma and displacement and the related suffering of women. Kabir has extensive knowledge of the country and the wider region throughout which he travels frequently and is well versed in art of the contemporary world, in particular Oriental and Miniature art, and has profound expertise in Afghanistan’s music and poetry.

To the artist, one aspect of living with this historical memory (‘tradition’) as an Afghan migrant in Australia is the attempt to reconcile and bridge the gaps between Western contemporary visual culture and the particularities
of the arts he has inherited and carries with him.