War rugs
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The war rug tradition of Afghanistan, which has its origins in the decade of Soviet occupation of Afghanistan from 1979, has continued through subsequent military, political and social conflicts. Afghan rug-makers began incorporating the apparatus of war into their designs almost immediately the Soviet Union invaded their country. They continue to do so today in the wake of September 11 and the onset of America’s War against Terror which ousted the Taliban government of Mullah Omar yet left a country in which local warlords still maintain a high level of civil conflict. 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.
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.
Little is known about the circumstances of war rugs' production and distribution, or their makers’ intentions.
In 2000 the Gollenstein Verlag of Blieskastel in Germany published "Lebensbaum un Kaschnikow. Krieg und Frieden im Spiegel afghanischer Bildteppiche" by Juergen Wasim Frembgen and Hans Werner Mohm. This is the first known serious and detailed study of any substance in the field of the so-called "War Rugs" from Afghanistan.
[edit] External links
- rugsofwar weblog at the Australian National University (includes a range of images and comprehensive links and bibliographic references)
- Kevin Sudeith (2006, current). Afghan War Rugs. warrug.com. Retrieved on 2006-01-05.
- Ron O'Callaghan (2003). Afghan War Rugs: A Sub-group With Iranian Influence. rugreview.com. Retrieved on 2006-01-04.
- Graham Gower (2003). Afghan War Rugs. wanadoo.co.uk.com. Retrieved on 2006-01-05.
