Barbara Koenen - War Rugs

In 2001, when the US invaded Afghanistan, I began recreating Afghani war rugs in public performances.

Afghani war rugs first appeared twenty-five years ago, when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan and the traditional weavers, primarily women, began to incorporate images of weapons into their traditional floral, animal and geometric patterns. Subtle at first, the military iconography eventually dominated the textiles, erasing all but the most incidental remnants of centuries of previous motifs.

I was moved by the tragic nature of this cultural and aesthetic phenomenon, and wanted to feel what it was like to create something so brutal.  Adopting the practice of the Tibetan Buddhist monks who make elaborate sand mandalas that they then destroy, I constructed war rugs like mandalas made from loose spices and seeds.  Taking up to 6 days to complete, the colorful and fragrant installations exist only temporarily.  Once complete with fringe and popper firecrackers attached, they are tread upon, but the footsteps only reveal their impermanence.

The first war rugs I swept up into jars at the end of each exhibition. Now I record the pieces as “monoprints,” fixing the remaining spices to cloth with clear medium. The prints retain much of the color and aroma of the rugs, as well as the pattern of footprints and other incidents that the installation endured.