Helen Louise Allen Textile Collection
The 'Woven Gardens of Hope' exhibit has both humanitarian and artistic goals.
"Woven Gardens of Hope: Afghan Women's Carpets" highlights the rich textile tradition of Afghanistan and the surrounding region. The exhibition offers a stark contrast to the more common contemporary views of a country stricken by violence and turmoil.
"Woven Gardens," which runs until March 1 at the UW School of Human Ecology's Ruth Davis Design Gallery, features historical and contemporary rugs, along with textiles from private collections and the Helen Louise Allen Textile Collection, including robes, hats and headdresses common to the region.
The carpets created by Afghan women who are part of the ARZU Hope Studio are central to the exhibit. Founded in 2004 by Connie Duckworth, the studio ("Arzu" is the Dari word for "hope") seeks to break the poverty cycle in Afghanistan by offering women steady income, education, health care and community development, particularly in the Bamyan region, where the program has helped build two community centers, a women's community garden, a preschool and housing.
The fact that ARZU Hope Studio is centered in Bamyan plays into a rich tradition of arts in the region. Located in central Afghanistan, Bamyan was considered the crux of East meeting West, resulting in architecture and arts influenced by Greek, Persian, Turkish, Indian and Chinese cultures. Bamyan is known for three colossal Buddha sculptures that were carved into a mountainside in the fifth century. In 2001, the Taliban destroyed the ancient sculptures in an act symbolic of the conflict that can exist between culture and art. ARZU Hope Studio and "Gardens of Hope" seek to ameliorate this conflict by showing that positive social change can arise from art and craft.
Stepping into the exhibit, visitors tread on a carpeted bridge between both worlds. Textiles are hung from floor to ceiling, lining not only the walls but hanging throughout the centers of the rooms. Recognizing the temptation to touch these lush designs and soft carpets, curators have kindly offered pieces of carpet for visitors to feel. Dim lighting and subtle music provide another glimpse into the world where women weave these rugs.
The carpets represent a wide variety of size and design, from floral and geometric weaving to 20th-century panels of wartime imagery and biblical verses. The viewer is reminded that the creators of these luxurious woven carpets reside in a region affected by both internal and external strife, and accompanying placards provide historical and cultural context.
Most striking is the section that focuses on the work of ARZU Hope Studio. While the rugs themselves are beautiful and fascinating, the story of the organization, along with photographs of Afghan women weaving, their families and the region, emphasize the true importance of this exhibit. Attendees are asked to reconsider the notion of a woven carpet and its meaning: an object more typically thought of as a floor covering in a home here serves as a marker of real social change.
"Woven Gardens of Hope: Afghan Women's Carpets" is as much about culture as it is about art, an important distinction to be made when viewing an exhibit, particularly one with such humanitarian aims. The exhibit overall could benefit from a stronger narrative to push the story of Afghanistan beyond what one finds in the news, but it succeeds in helping us understand how a region of diverse cultures is able to weave not just art, but positive socioeconomic change.
