Illuminated Threads: Contemporary and Traditional Rugs

Illuminated Threads: Contemporary and Traditional Rugs showcases the long history of rug making in the East through works in the BMA’s permanent collection. This exhibition places Shirvanshah—a newly acquired work by contemporary Azerbaijani artist Faig Ahmed—in dialog with seven carpets made in Iran, Persia, Russia, the Caucasus region, and Turkey in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Ahmed is well known for conceptual works that translate traditional decorative craft and the visual language of carpets into contemporary sculptural works of art. Through style, material, and practice, this exhibition demonstrates how this art form has been used to depict belonging and place.

Each work within this exhibition utilizes visual language to depict important places or design motifs. Inspired by the architecture of the Shah’s (ruler’s) Palace in the country of Azerbaijan, viewers can see similarities in the shape of Ahmed’s rug, Shirvanshah, and the burial site of the rulers of Azerbaijan with the same name. Prayer rugs from Iran, the Caucasus region, and Turkey show intricate designs with details of mihrabs, the recesses in the walls of mosques that indicate the direction of the holy city of Makkah (Mecca) in Saudi Arabia, toward which Muslims face during prayer. And flowers and animals are a visual connection between the Persian rug and the accompanying silver ewer.

Ahmed researches and designs the patterns for his rugs while working with traditional regional weavers, working with handlooms and the same materials and techniques that were used over two centuries ago, and seen in all the works in this exhibition.

Image Credit: Faig Ahmed (Azerbaijani, born 1982), Shirvanshah, 2024, dyed wool and dyed cotton, as installed 215 x 58 1/4 x 73 5/8 in.; Collection of the Art Fund, Inc. at the Birmingham Museum of Art; Purchase with funds provided by the Contemporary Endowment of the Arts Fund at Birmingham Museum of Art, AFI.14.2024a-b, image credit: Courtesy of Sapar Contemporary and the Artist