War rug
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The war rug (Dari: فرش جنگی, romanized:farš jangi) tradition of Afghanistan has its origins in the decade of Soviet occupation of Afghanistan from 1979 and has continued through the subsequent military, political and social conflicts. Afghan rug-makers began incorporating the apparatus of war into their designs almost immediately after the Soviet Union invaded their country. War rugs continue to be sold, with patterns evolving over time, depicting weaponry such as drones and events such as the 2021 Fall of Kabul.
The terms Baluch and war rug are generalizations given to the genre by rug dealers, commercial galleries, collectors, critics, and commentators. The rugs are characterized as conveying their makers' experiences and interpretations of the circumstances and politics of war and conflict in the region.
Professor Jamal J. Elias has stated that war rugs are made not to reflect the experiences of their creators, but in response to market demand. Rug brokers and dealers have responded to the market for war rugs, supplying individual creators in bulk with patterns and materials. The rugs are then produced in bulk by individual weavers, including children, working from home. Finished rugs are onsold by the brokers, with individual weavers seeing little of the profits.
Since the withdrawal of the USSR, the same themes and subjects have been reused and remade. Additionally, after 9/11 the events of that day were recorded in carpets, and more recently – since 2015 – drones have appeared as subject matter.
Literature
- Jürgen Wasim Frembgen and Hans Werner Mohm: Lebensbaum und Kalaschnikow. Krieg und Frieden im Spiegel afghanischer Bildteppiche, Gollenstein Verlag (publishers), Blieskastel (in Germany), 2000, ISBN 978-3933389312. (This is the first known serious and detailed study of any substance in the field of the so-called "War Rugs" from Afghanistan.)
- Tim Bonyhady, Nigel Lendon and Jasleen Dhamija: The rugs of war, Canberra : Australian National University, School of Art, Gallery, 2003. ISBN 0731530306
- Enrico Mascelloni: War Rugs: The Nightmare of Modernism, Skira, 2009, ISBN 978-8861308664.
- Till Passow & Thomas Wild (ed.): Knotted Memories: War in Afghan Rug Art, Catalogue to accompany the exhibition featuring selected pieces from Till Passow's collection of Afghan war rugs, 27 February – 20 March 2015 (German and English), Berlin 2015, ISBN 978-3-00-048784-2.
- ; War Rugs Volume One:Pictorial, ISBN 978-0-9974233-1-0 Mosques, monuments, minarets, and modern cities in war rugs from 1981 through 2010. This book demonstrates how some war rugs grew out of the long tradition of landscape pictorial rugs as well as the way contemporary weavers combined ancient religious and martial architectural structures with the most high tech imagery.
External links
- Muldowney, Decca (27 June 2022). . The Verge.
- War rug database by . Started in 1998 this is the most comprehensive index of war rugs available.
- by Mimi Kirk, Smithsonian, 4 February 2008
- Traditional Afghan rug patterns relationship to war rugs.
- , Blog by Nigel Lendon and Prof. Tim Bonyhady[de] of the Australian National University
- by Cosimo Bizzarri, The Atlantic, 30 January 2015
- by Holland Cotter, The New York Times, 11 February 2005
- , Postap Magazine, 18-09-2018 by Cyprien Rose.
- by Christopher Helman, Forbes Magazine 22 December 2003
- by Corey Kilgannon, The New York Times, 15 December 2003
- by Tammy La Gorce, The New York Times, 29 March 2014