I Weave What I Have Seen: The War Rugs of Afghanistan

by Nigel Lendon, Tim Bonyhady

This is the publication for the seminal exhibition by the same title, which investigates the history, iconography, production and distribution of a selection of extraordinary Afghan War rugs from the curators’ shared private collection. This catalogue includes essays by lawyer and cultural arts historian, Tim Bonyhady and Nigel Lendon– artist, academic and curator, as well as a foreword by Afghani Rug specialist and collector, Sabur Fahiz. Afghanistan has an embedded tradition of storytelling through weaving, which previously depicted scenes of battle on horseback. Following the onset of Soviet and later, US Military activity in the region, the emergence of ‘modern’ warfare iconography began to appear in the handwoven textile rugs of remote and regional weavers. I weave what I have seen: The War Rugs of Afghanistan surveys handwoven rugs from key historical conflicts in the region over the past 40 years.

Genres: Art

112 pages

Published January 1, 2022

Reviews

[Mack · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is mainly a description of the various rugs displayed in this exhibition as well as some essays explaining the history and common imagery of Afghan war rugs. I find this topic to be absolutely fascinating, and I loved looking at the rugs and I appreciated the curators’ explanations that allowed me to understand the Dari text and general history/cultural context.

In general though, I do wish that this book had more: more essays, more rugs, more substance. I would have appreciated a theoretical essay about how war rugs came about, the significance of combining military imagery with Afghan history/literature, and what constant war for decades does to a country’s culture. Still, I liked this book for what it was and I will definitely read more about this in the future.