PHOTO: © Maren und Ahmadjan Amin @Maren Amini
"Ahmadjan und der Wiedehopf"
In the organizer's words:
Reading with Maren and Ahmadjan Amin
"Ahmadjan and the Hoopoe"
The State Agency for Political Education and the Kulturhaus Süderelbe are presenting the award-winninggraphic novel “Ahmadjan and the Hoopoe”by Maren Amini through July 3, 2026.
On July 2, 2026, Maren and Ahmadjan Amin will read from the book.
Theexhibitioninvites visitors to visually explore this multifaceted story of migration, identity, and the search for happiness.
Inspired by her father’s life story, the graphic novel centers on Ahmadjan, who comes to Hamburg from Afghanistan in 1972 to become an artist. In doing so, he embarks on an eventful journey through places, times, and inner worlds. Amini tells his story by drawing on the famous tale *The Conference of the Birds* by Fariduddin Attar. Just as in that story, Ahmadjan traverses seven valleys, each of which demands insight and self-examination.
The journey takes him through the hippie era in Afghanistan, the music and art scenes of the 1970s in Kabul and Hamburg, and to resistance fighters in the Hindu Kush—a time marked by social upheaval, the peace movement, and the onset of a long war.
