How to get down from a Yak! Adventures in Central Asian Nomadic Textiles

How to get down from a Yak! Adventures in Central Asian Nomadic Textiles

Houses made from wool that are warm in the depths of winter, carpets that tell stories, woven bands that appease ancestors, embroideries that ward off evil, and kilims that store kitchenware, with everything ready to be packed and carried on yak or camel at a moment’s notice. The little-known nomadic textile cultures of the Kyrgyz, Turkoman and Karakalpak are explored in this lecture, along with the rise and fall of nomadism and where nomadism fits within the modern world. Chris also shares from his own experience of working with nomadic yak herders in the High Pamirs for three years.

Chris Aslan Alexander,  born in Turkey, has had a colourful life in which he has established a UNESCO workshop in Uzbekistan which revived fifteenth century carpet designs and embroideries, trained yak herders in Tajikistan to comb their yaks for their cashmere-like down, and set up a wood-carving workshop in Kyrgyzstan.  He has studied and rowed at Oxford and now writes, lectures for The Art Society and also leads tours to Central Asia, where he has left a large chunk of his heart.