The night
Before you go
Beginning around 1980, Afghan weavers began incorporating images of fighter jets, guns, and tanks into their carpet designs—likely in response to the arrival of Soviet forces in 1979. While the motifs were novel, Afghan War Rugs, as the genre has been named, are related to a long tradition of Persian pictorial carpets. The Nickle’s collection alludes to, in part, weavers’ survival strategies and resilience during the conflicts and turmoil of the last decades of the 20th century. Join Michele Hardy for a behind-the-scenes visit to the vault and a look at some remarkable textiles produced between 1980-2007. Hardy is a curator, anthropologist and textile specialist who has worked with the collection for almost two decades.
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