Azernews.Az

By Laman Ismayilova

Unique street art carpets have been presented near Art Tower Gallery as part of the Festival of Decorative and Applied Arts.

In their works, talented artists Farida Garayeva, Tarana Aliyeva and Najiba Ismayilova brilliantly demonstrated the richness of Karabakh, Shirvan and Ganja carpet schools.

The project, curated Sabina Najafova, aims at promotion of the ancient Azerbaijani carpet weaving art and street art.

The festival was co-organized by the Arts Council Azerbaijan (NGO) and the Icherisheher State Historical and Architectural Reserve, Trend Life reported.

Speaking about the art project, the head of Arts Council Azerbaijan (NGO) Dadash Mammadov stressed the importance of Azerbaijani carpet weaving art.

"Carpet weaving is one of the most significant and ancient types of Azerbaijani folk and applied art, the traditions and secrets of which have been carefully kept and passed down from generation to generation. The carpet incorporates the desires and feelings of the one who weaved it, passing on to us the kept secrets from centuries ago," Mammadov said.

"That's how Azerbaijani carpet is - magical, full of symbols and secrets. You can study it for years and still find something unfamiliar, revealing more and more mysteries. Among the Azerbaijani carpets, Absheron, Ganja, Gazakh, Shirvan, Shamakhi, Karabakh, Guba, Nakhchivan and Tabriz are the most distinguished. This time we presented only three street art carpets," he added.

Azerbaijan has seven carpet producing regions including Baku, Shirvan, Guba, Tabriz, Karabakh, Ganja and Gazakh and each of them had its own technology, typical patterns and colors.

On November 10, 2010, the Azerbaijani carpet art was included into the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of UNESCO. Azerbaijani carpets are saved and stored at the world museums and private collections.

The Festival of Decorative and Applied Arts will last until October 16. The guests of the festival have a chance to enjoy numerous art works, including batik, tapestry, ceramics, stained glass, jewelry, carpet weaving.

Arts Council Azerbaijan is an international and independent art platform. The organization is the head of the International Arts Council Network operating in different countries around the world. It was created by Dadash Mammadov in 2006.

The main purpose of the organization is to promote Azerbaijani culture and art.

Many projects have been operating for many years under the auspices of the organization. Among them are Art Gazette, Production Studio, Azerbaijan Animation Museum named after Nazim Mammadov, Art School Drawing School, "Under open air" plein air, Art Residence, and Youth Network.

Media partners of the event are Azernews.az, Trend.az, Day.az and Milli.az.

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Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova

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