Mehmet Kara
22 January 2021•Update: 23 January 2021
ISTANBUL
Afghanistan’s first female animation artist and illustrator thanked Turkey for contributing to her career.
"Thanks to Turkey, I was able to study this, my dream came true. Now I want to expand the animation field and establish a studio in Afghanistan," Sara Barackzay said.
She recalled her journey to becoming Afghanistan's first female animation artist.
Barackzay, 27, was born in Afghanistan’s war-torn Herat province.
Recounting that girls still have trouble attending school in Afghanistan, she said: "Girls also have dreams and goals they want to achieve. I am one of them. Despite all odds, I want to achieve my dreams."
During her high school years, Barackzay started copying the cartoon characters she saw on television in her digital drawings.
Very soon she received a Turkish government scholarship to study animation and illustration.
"Animation and illustration are my biggest dreams. While I was drawing, I wanted them to move and talk. I worked for it and I won the Turkey Scholarship Program."
On a recent trip to Afghanistan, she organized more than 30 animation and illustration courses and continues trainings online.
She has helped hundreds of women draw digitally.
She is currently working on various book projects for UNICEF and UNESCO in Ankara and Istanbul.
Also, she wants to produce content for world-renowned animation studios such as Pixar and Disney.
*Writing by Seda Sevencan
