Side Exhibitions of the 2015 Textile Show:

Prayer Rugs

This year side exhibition entitled “Prayer Rugs” will be dedicated to a huge variety of Prayers from different important private collections.
This exhibition introduces us to the important production of Prayer Rugs and the differences among the different country of the so called Rug Belt.

THE PRAYER RUGS

One of the most important artistic expression of the Islamic world is the rug that prevent the prayer to touch the soil.

This particular aim of rugs hail from the early Islamic period, and so is the habit of donating rugs to the mosques.
Prayer rugs evoke, in their graphic structures, the principal architectural elements of the mosques.
In particular, it is always present the Mihrab that represents the little recess completed with and arch, which indicates the direction to Mecca. The lamp is another typical elements, it symbolises the immortality of the divine nature and it is always burning in the mosques. The fire temple, a polygonal temple with 20 28 sides, that derives to an architectural typology used in Ancient Persia and transmitted to Islamic era.
A recurring theme is also the hatchet with 2 lames, which represent a dualistic value of the power that can both promote or destroy.
Among all the different graphic representations, a particular one is the Hand of Fatima, which indicates the position of the rug on which the prayer leans during the prays. The Hand has a specific meaning: the 5 fingers recall the 5 fundamental principles of Islam.
There are also many connection to the theme of the garden and the fountain of water, that refers to the paradise.

The Lao Gift

This year side exhibition entitled “The Lao Gift” will be entirely dedicated to the discovery of the beautiful Lao textile and their symbolic and cultural value.
Mr. David Sorgato, the curator of this exhibition, will show us the almost extint tradition of Phaa Koei and Phaa Tuun – decorated textile woven by Lao women as precious gifts for a number of events of the life.

PHAA KOEI

The Phaa Koei are long banners of cloth decorated with complicated religious and magic symbols. They were employed in the funerary ceremonies of the various ethnic group of Laos.

PHAA TUUN

The Phaa Tuun are strip of textile that mothers typically weave for pregnant daughters.
Sometimes they are used as blankets, curtains, dividers and bum bags but in this case they are usually called Phaa Tuun Luuk.
The Phaa Tuun are usually composed by two panels, which are sewed together on the way of the length