🧶Exhibition:  Weaving Bullets, Dreaming of Peace. Afghan War Rugs.

🧶 Weaving Bullets, Dreaming of Peace. Afghan War Rugs.

An exhibition about art, memory, and civil resistance.

Afghan war rugs were born out of conflict. This striking form of textile art emerged after the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in 1979 and has continued to evolve amid decades of violence, invasions, and political unrest.

Since then, many Afghan women weavers began to incorporate instruments of war into their designs: tanks, helicopters, rifles, and, more recently, drones — all interwoven with the traditional motifs that have been part of their visual identity for centuries.

🧨 Tanks replaced flowers, rocket launchers replaced vases, and airplanes took the place of abstract borders.

The rugs created in response to these events represent one of the richest traditions of War Art in the world from the late 20th to early 21st centuries. These works are powerful not only for their beauty and symbolism, but also for their value as historical documents — silent witnesses to the suffering of a civilian population caught in unending conflict.

🕊️ A Statement for Peace

The exhibition “Weaving Bullets, Dreaming of Peace” also features a special piece on loan from the San Telmo Museum: a alba belonging to Serafin de Tolosa, who was connected to a network that helped evacuate Jews during World War II.

Through these works, we aim to raise awareness of the ongoing instability in Afghanistan — but also to highlight the profound human impact that war inflicts on civilian life.

Above all, this project is a tribute to resilience and an urgent call for peace.

Exhibition until the 23rd of November in Nómada

“There is no path to peace. Peace is the path.”

— Mahatma Gandhi

 

Press and Media Coverage

Bullets Dreaming of Peace: Afghan War Rugs has been featured by Spanish media for its contribution to the understanding of Afghan war rugs, a unique textile tradition that documents the impact of war, displacement, and social change in Afghanistan. The exhibition presents these handcrafted rugs as historical documents, works of contemporary folk art, and powerful messages of peace.

Read the media coverage:

• Diario Vasco: “Las alfombras de guerra para soñar la paz”  https://www.diariovasco.com/culturas/alfombras-guerra-sonar-paz-20251029235929-nt.html
• elDiario.es Euskadi: “Una tienda donostiarra convierte las armas y los tanques de las alfombras afganas en un alegato urgente por la paz”:
•   https://www.eldiario.es/euskadi/tienda-donostiarra-convierte-armas-tanques-alfombras-afganas-alegato-urgente-paz_1_12704037.html
• Berria egunkaria: https://www.berria.eus/bizigiro/alfonbrek-kontatutako-gerra_2149154_102.html

The articles examine how Afghan war rugs evolved from traditional weaving practices into visual records of conflict and how the exhibition connects themes of memory, cultural heritage, refugees, peacebuilding, and contemporary Afghan history.