:Aman Mojadidi

File:Afghan by blood, redneck by the grace of God just a trim 2011.jpg

Mojadidi was born and grew up in Jacksonville, Florida. His father went back to Afghanistan each summer to help fight the Soviet occupation as a combat surgeon.{{cite web|last=Lawrence|first=Quil|date=7 October 2011|title=In Afghanistan, Performance Artist Packs Up His Bling|url=https://www.npr.org/2011/10/07/141155552/in-afghanistan-performance-artist-packs-up-his-bling|publisher=National Public Radio (NPR): All Things Considered|accessdate=12 August 2012}} Mojadidi visited Afghanistan for the first time in 1990, when he made a visit to the front lines with his uncle, Sibghatullah Mojaddedi, the prominent Afghan mujahid who was once president of Afghanistan and has been a member of its upper parliament.{{cite web|last=Nissenbaum|first=Dion|date=19 April 2011|title=This 'Jihadi' Is Armed With a Subversive Sense of Humor|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748703916004576271262475103684|publisher=Wall Street Journal|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110430203337/http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703916004576271262475103684.html|archivedate=30 April 2011|url-status=live}}

Mojadidi visited Afghanistan again in 2001 after the fall of the Taliban, and moved there in 2003 to work with an NGO involved in efforts to rebuild the country.{{cite web|first=Jennifer|last=Kabat|date=20 June 2011|title=Aman Mojadidi|url=http://blog.frieze.com/aman-mojadidi/|publisher=Frieze Blog|accessdate=12 August 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120821153516/http://blog.frieze.com/aman-mojadidi/|archive-date=2012-08-21|url-status=dead}} In recent years he has been active in Kabul's art scene and has been credited for playing a crucial role in its resurgence.{{cite web|first=Martin|last=Gerner|date=28 June 2012|title=Solutions Don't Always Come from Elsewhere|url=http://en.qantara.de/Solutions-Dont-Always-Come-from-Elsewhere/19387c20542i1p501/index.html|publisher=Qantara.de|accessdate=27 November 2012}} Mojadidi curated a 2012 Documenta exhibit in Kabul which showcased 12 contemporary Afghan artists, and has worked with young Afghans in graffiti art. At times he has been critical of Afghanistan's reliance on foreign aid. He has said that "a truly sustainable approach would probably be for Afghan artists to form collectives and organise exhibitions on their own initiative."

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With his art, Mojadidi says he aims to make something that "disturbs identity and challenges authority."{{cite video |people=Mojadidi, Aman |date=June 2012 |title=A sense of humor about Afghanistan? Artist Aman Mojadidi shows how |url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Okx64BQOXPc |medium=Video |work=YouTube |accessdate= 2 April 2016}} For one of his first performance art installations, in 2009, Mojadidi set up a fake checkpoint in Kabul. Dressed as an Afghan policeman, he filmed himself searching cars and offering drivers $2, in what he described as a "reverse bribe."{{cite web |last= Nissenbaum |first=Dion |date=25 September 2010 |title= Jihadi Gangster for Afghan parliament |url= http://www.rawa.org/temp/runews/2010/09/25/jihadi-gangster-for-afghan-parliament.html |publisher= McClatchy Newspapers via Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) |archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20100929164809/http://www.rawa.org/temp/runews/2010/09/25/jihadi-gangster-for-afghan-parliament.html |archivedate= 29 September 2010 |url-status=live }}

In 2010, Mojadidi invented a character called the "Jihadi Gangster" as a satire of what he saw as jihad's "Street cred" (credibility) in modern Afghan culture, which he connected to the American concept of "bling." In a series of photos and posters, Mojadidi dressed up as this character, whose appearance was a combination of American hip-hop gangster and Afghan mujahideen. During the Afghan parliamentary election, 2010, Jihadi Gangster appeared in posters around Kabul wearing a black turban and a large gold chain with a gold-plated gun around his neck (see photos). His campaign slogan read, "Vote for me, I've done jihad, and I'm rich."

File:Conflict chic 1 2011 back.JPG

Mohadidi's other tongue-in-cheek work includes a fashion line of clothing for suicide bombers and soldiers called "Conflict Chic" and photography exploring the connection between Kabul City and the American Confederate South. His art has been shown in international contemporary art exhibitions, including dOCUMENTA (13) and the Kochi-Muziris Biennale in 2012.

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• List of Afghan Americans

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• [http://www.amanmojadidi.com/ official website]

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Category:1971 births

Category:Living people

Category:American contemporary artists

Category:American people of Afghan descent

Category:American performance artists

Category:Artists from Jacksonville, Florida

Category:American people of Pashtun descent