18/03/2026
War Rugs. These always raise an eyebrow but are often misunderstood.
Afghans weave into their rugs topical subjects, they are a record of social history, like a newspaper. The original war rugs created in the 1980’s (second photo) are real collectors items and were more a lot more subtle in their content.
Originally created when the Russians withdrew from Afghanistan they were first called ‘celebration rugs’ often showing an Afghan map and tanks departing.
More recently they are more explicit and depict poppies, guns and weapons, drones, tanks and rocket launchers. Some of the latest ones we have received show one of the awful events of August ‘21 when the government fell following the west’s withdrawal (third photo) - we’ve actually sold out of these.
