Rugs of War
From AcademicBlogs
The Rugs of War blog is part of a project investigating the hand knotted "war rugs" made in Afghanistan (and in the Afghan diaspora) following the 1979 invasion of that country by the Soviet Union.
Contents |
About the blog
The Rugs of War blog was established by Nigel Lendon, Associate Head of the School of Art at the Australian National University in April 2004. A short biography, and one of his collaborator Tim Bonyhady, is available here.
To date, there are no significant institutional collections of war rugs. The blog has helped uncover more than ten significant private collections.
Goals of The Rugs of War blog
- to provide a forum for speculation and interpretation - engaging and contributing to the many complex dimensions of the genre;
- to network and provide a means for individuals who have an interest in the subject to find and engage with each other and contribute to a growing discussion;
- to identify and contribute to the sources of information and opinion contained in the archive represented by private and public collections;
- to create a database of images and commentary on an open access model - which is linked to precedents and relevant publications in other media, and most importantly…
- to acknowledge and venerate the many anonymous artists and designers who have created these extraordinary works - which by our continuing interest may in some measure validate their extraordinary creative labour - and which may bridge cultural divides in an open, speculative and politically neutral manner.
About the rugs
The traditional knotted rugs made by the semi-nomadic Baluch people of northern Afghanistan are famous for their distinctive designs, their rich yet subdued palettte and the quality of their construction and materials. While these Baluch rugs traditionally featureed symmetrical and geometric patterns, significant changes became apparent almost immediately after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, when rug-makers began incorporating complex imagery of war planes, helicopters, machine guns, maps and texts into their designs.
Little is known about the circumstances of war rugs' production and distribution, or their makers’ intentions. The terms "Baluch" and "war rug" are generalisations given to the genre by rug dealers, commercial galleries, collectors, critics and commentators. The distinctive characteristic of these rugs is their capacity to convey their makers’ experiences and interpretations of the circumstances and politics of war and conflict in the region. The rugs produced in response to these events may well constitute the world’s richest tradition of war art of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.
Some Favourite Posts
Modernising traditional motifs ... and a mystery for militaria buffs
Mystery fortress: the citadel in Herat built by Alexander of Macedonia
External Links
flyer_A4.pdf Media release (pdf)
Online catalogue of The Rugs of War exhibition held in Canberra and Adelaide in 2003
