The Path of Felt: tradition and Transformation in Kazakh Contemporary Art
Yeskozhina L. Zhukenova Z.
2025Taylor and Francis Ltd.
Textile: The Journal of Cloth and Culture
2025#23Issue 3-4675 - 688 pp.
Felt emerged as the quintessential nomadic material due to Central Asian’s geography, pastoral lifestyle, and livestock-based economy, which endured until the 19th century. The cultural trajectory of Kazakhstan’s incorporation into the Russian Empire in the 19th century, which precipitated the forced transition from nomadism to sedentarism. This period saw the dismantling of traditional social hierarchies, the suppression of the Kazakh intelligentsia, and the imposition of socialist-communist structures, with Kazakhstan serving as a testing ground for Soviet policies. These upheavals precipitated catastrophic cultural losses, yet craft knowledge persisted as a cultural code: in remote villages, artisans continued producing felt carpets as syrmak and tekemet and yurt coverings, with museum specimens documenting these as late as 1985. The Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991 triggered a resurgence of national consciousness. As Kazakhstan transitioned to independence, intellectuals and artists began reclaiming cultural memory-interrogating myths, traditions, and identity through visual art. By the 21st century, felt had transcended its utilitarian past to become a medium on heritage and modernity.
ancient textiles , art object , contemporary art of Kazakhstan , felt , traditional textiles
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Faculty of Art Studies at the Kazakh National University of Art, Astana, Kazakhstan
Department of “Painting and Sculpture” at the Kazakh National University of Art, Kazakhstan
Faculty of Art Studies at the Kazakh National University of Art
Department of “Painting and Sculpture” at the Kazakh National University of Art
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