The first female artist ever to have an artwork chosen for the special German Christmas stamp was born in Afghanistan, and lives in Munich. The stamp is the first to feature artwork made by a contemporary living artist.

We meet Mahbuba Maqsoodi in her Munich studio, sitting among sketches and colorful mockup drawings. One of this year’s special Christmas postage stamps issued in Germany features one of her artworks. “I’m happy. I feel honored.,” she told DW.

Maqsoodi says that while making art, she “always tries to stimulate ideas and encourage the viewer towards contemplation, and also reflection, to move them. In this case, with respect to the subject of birth. It would be nice if this stamp made people think about this heavenly light again.”

She was unaware that she is the first female artist ever be chosen for the special Christmas stamp — and that it is also the first contemporary artwork to be featured.

In fact, since the German postal service Deutsche Post began issuing Christmas stamps in 1969, they have never printed an image by a living contemporary artist, nor an artwork by a woman. So this is a milestone in both respects.

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