'I weave what I have seen: The War Rugs of Afghanistan' exhibition comes to Lismore Regional Gallery from 12 February - 27 March 2022, and is a testimony to the creativity and resilience of Afghan weavers who have faced the devastating effects of war for more than forty years.

"I want to show something of the war, in the hope that, even later, people will be touched by it, and won’t simply forget it," said Safer Ali, refugee weaver of war rugs, Mashhad, Iran, 1993 

From the very start of the conflict, Afghan weavers began developing a striking new form of war art involving a complex imagery of armaments, maps, monuments, texts and portraits which soon began to find an international audience.

In the catalogue accompanying the exhibition rug merchant Sabur Fahiz writes “These rugs – marked by an extraordinary array of designs, made even richer because of the individuality of their weavers – appear to have begun primarily as a form of self-expression. Rug-making families wanted to record the war engulfing their country even as they were creating a commercial product to be sold, as with all Afghan rugs, primarily to foreigners. ‘I weave what I have seen and experienced’, declared the Hazara rug-maker Safer Ali, who fled to the Iranian city of Masshad in 1987.”

Emerging out of a research project undertaken at the Australian National University by Tim Bonyhady and Nigel Lendon, this exhibition investigates the history, iconography, production and distribution of these extraordinary rugs.

I weave what I have seen: The War Rugs of Afghanistan is curated by Tim Bonyhady and Nigel Lendon. The exhibition and its national tour are organised by the ANU Drill Hall Gallery in conjunction with Tim Bonyhady.

The exhibition will run at the Lismore Regional Gallery from the 12th February to 27th March 2022.

The Lismore Regional Gallery can be found at 11 Rural St, Lismore, and admission to Lismore Regional Gallery is a suggested $5 donation

Gallery Opening Hours: Mon & Tues closed, Wed to Sun: 10am - 4pm, Thurs: 10am - 6pm. 

Lismore Regional Gallery has a CovidSafe plan in place. Find out more on their website.