Faig Ahmed: Nonvisual Language

October 6 through December 23, 2018

Program Highlights All programs are free unless otherwise

Lecture

noted. For a complete list of programs

Shipibo-Conibo Textiles from the Peruvian Amazon

with descriptions, or to register for a program, visit museum.gwu.edu/ programs or call 202-994-7394.

Artist Talk

Faig Ahmed: Nonvisual Language Saturday, October 6, 11 AM (members), 12:30 PM (public) Faig Ahmed, artist in residence.

Free, but reservations are required Join artist in residence, Faig Ahmed as he shares his new artwork and inspiration pieces from the museum collections Textiles at 12 Workshops

Communicating with Collage Thursday, October 18, 12 pm (2 hours) Morgan Kuster, education assistanth Film and Discussion

Shipibo... the Movie of Our Memories Thursday, October 18, 5:30 PM (51 minutes, subtitled) Alaka Wali, curator of North American Anthropology, Science and Education Division, The Field Museum $10 members / $15 public In this MacArthur Foundation-supported film produced by the Field Museum in 2011, the native communities of the Shipibo in southern Peru discuss anthropologist Harry Tschopik Jr.’s 1953 film on the Shipibo people, “Men of the Montaña;” their own identity; the changes in their culture; and the future for their children. This special screening is explores the Peruvian tribe whose textiles inspired artist in residence, Faig Ahmed’s recent work on view in our experimental gallery.

Wednesday, November 14 5:30 PM (reception), 6 PM (lecture) $10 members / $15 public Drawing on anthropological theory, Dr. Wortham’s lecture will map out the context and complexity behind ShipiboConibo textiles and their circulation beyond the Peruvian Amazon.

Erica Wortham, professorial lecturer, GW Department of Anthropology Textiles at Twelve: Film

Shipibo…the Movie of Our Memories Thursday, December 13, 12 PM Free (51 minutes, subtitled)

Left: Faig Ahmed; Dragon Path (detail), 2017; Wool; handwoven; Courtesy of Sapar Contemporary, New York

“Objects are records of cultural process, and they provide unmediated access to the values and experience of their producers—if we know how to read them.” / Arnold Rubin Internationally acclaimed visual artist Faig

Faig Ahmed: Nonvisual Language

Ahmed, a native of Azerbaijan, believes

sprang from Ahmed’s study of the

that the patterns used to create letters

Shipibo textiles in the Textile Museum’s

can be traced to the history of textile

permanent collection, examination of

construction in different cultures. Ahmed’s

materials in the Museum’s Arthur D.

new work explores language and the ways

Jenkins Library, and the findings of his

in which language morphs and persists in

recent field trip to Peru. This exhibition

the form of patterns and symbols.

features art works Ahmed created prior

Faig Ahmed: Nonvisual Language does

to his Textile Museum visit, those he

not concern itself with the preciousness

collected during his South American

of the textile in and of itself. Through his

travels, and his latest work, which

tangible artwork, Ahmed is investigating

synthesizes the ideas he gleaned

the creation and community adoption of

from his research about cross-cultural

textile patterns and symbols as a spiritual

pattern symbols.

force. The artist believes that the integrity

While at the Museum’s Avenir

of such patterns created from letters and

Foundation Conservation and Collections

words can be traced in textiles produced

Resource Center, Ahmed focused his

by different cultures.

The exploration of language and

research on the geometric linear surface design patterns in historic textiles created

symbol as code has been a recurring

by the Shipibo people of Peru. At a

these in Ahmed’s contemporary textiles

quick glance, the bold and fine linear

and sculpture, and continues as the

elements appear to be laid out within a

subject for this exhibition. Ahmed

symmetrical compositional framework.

recently participated in a Textile Museum

Yet after spending time with the textiles,

contemporary art research project.

Ahmed discerned that the paths of surface

Extending the approach of a 2012 Textile

mark-making were not symmetrical

Museum group exhibition, Sourcing the

patterns. Compositional repetition did

Museum, the Museum invited Ahmed

not occur. There were visual pauses in

to catalyze new artwork by conducting

the ink, evidence of the mark maker

primary source research in its historic collection of non-Western textiles.

taking a moment to consider direction before moving on with the activity. As he examined the Shipibo textiles, Faig felt there was evidence of a larger narrative which was not visible to the eye. He asked: Caption Occusa del idis ut fugiati onsedipsamus adis resenimpos duntius anditas simagni omnis maximaximin pro voleceriatum que re,

Faig Ahmed; Dragon Path, 2017; Wool; handwoven; Courtesy of Sapar Contemporary, New York

“listen” to a song or chant by looking at the designs, and inversely paint a pattern by listening to music. The linear, geometric patterns don’t act as design philosophy, but as a map of consciousness and reality structure. Given a connection to metaphysical sources, the patterned textiles are believed to bring healing on mental and physical levels. The Shipibo painted designs act as channels or conduits for a multi-sensorial vibrational fusion of form, light and sound. Scholar Angelika Gebhart-Sayer states that the geometric linear design work of the Shipibo “may well have constituted a graphic device comprising symbolic, “What is the language?” What is the message?

What drives the mark-making process?”

The Shipibo people are one of the largest ethnic groups in the Peruvian Amazon, and

semantic units” used in rituals to help community members remember things.

Ahmed’s recent works, Dragon Path (2017) and DNA (2016), explore the ideas of

live in communities through the Pucallpa/

pattern as a vehicle for language. Ahmed

Ucayali river region. All the textile painting,

created Dragon Path as a reinterpretation of

embroidery, and artisan craft is carried

a dragon carpet from the collection of the

out by the women. The graphic designs

Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ahmed was

produced by the Shipibo are believed to

drawn to the image of a mystical winged

be therapeutic sound from the spirit world

and fire-breathing dragon, a design that

that is administered to the living through the

traveled from China to Asia’s frontier with

song of the shaman. Through our Western

Europe, a border that runs through Ahmed’s

cultural lens, we perceive the geometric

home country of Azerbaijan. In keeping with

patterns as static marks bound within the

Ahmed’s focus on pattern and language,

compositional border of the cloth, yet to the

the image of the dragon is stylized in two

Shipibo the designs extend far beyond the

distinct abstract interpretations within the

textile’s edges and act as song. The Shipibo

language of the carpet.

Caption Occusa del idis ut fugiati onsedipsamus adis resenimpos duntius anditas simagni omnis maximaximin pro voleceriatum que re,

DNA was developed as a result of Faig Ahmed’s fascination with genetic research, quantum physics and the science of small particles. DNA was inspired by scientific attempts to describe metaphysical phenomena. Textiles, as ubiquitous and omnipresent human communication devices, act as containers of code to describe human cultural expression and mathematical concepts through textile construction.

Included in the exhibition is a selection of contemporary Mexican and Shipibo textiles Ahmed collected during his recent trip to South America. The artist has included

Faig Ahmed created Untitled after his travels

these textiles to illustrate his reference

to the Textile Museum and Peru in

material for studying pattern, rhythm,

late 2017. This artwork by Faig reflects his

color, and visual information produced

thinking about the design and pattern

by contemporary weavers. Similar to the

parallels between Peruvian and Azerbaijani

cross-cultural symbols Ahmed incorporates

woven textiles. His points of reference for

into his work, these contemporary weavings

the new work include the design elements

contain patterns and symbols that have

from traditional Azerbaijani carpets, in

moved across cultures throughout the

particular the diamond patterns and yarn

indigenous Americas in recent history.

colors, the abstracted Arabic letter forms

Created in Ahmed’s Central Asian country

found along the border of Pirebedil carpets

where there is a long and rich tradition

(the oldest form of Azerbaijani carpets),

of textile making, an Azerbaijani rug is

and the linear patterns that communicate

included and, combined with the Mexican

song and cultural ideas in the South

and Shipibo textiles, acts as a source for

American textiles. Ahmed, through the

the creation of his new work.

creation of his art work, explores common parallels in textile construction and pattern symbolism between disparate textiles in

“Through his tangible artwork, Ahmed is investigating the creation and community adoption of textile patterns and symbols as a spiritual force.”

time and space.

Primary research conducted by contemporary artists such as Ahmed in The Textile Museum’s collections can inspire greater community and institutional engagement with the Museum, while fostering a contemporary understanding of the cultural and technical importance of its historic collection.

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The George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum 701 21st Street, NW, Washington, DC 20052 202-994-5200 | museum.gwu.edu @GWTextileMuseum

Textile Library Located on the museum’s fourth floor, the Arthur D. Jenkins Library is open Wed–Thu 1– 4 PM and by appointment. Please contact the librarian before your visit at museumlibrary@gwu.edu.

Left (and cover): Faig Ahmed; DNA, 2016; Wool; handwoven; Courtesy of Sapar Contemporary, New York

/TextileMuseum @GWMuseum