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This fragment is part of the "CulturalxCollabs - Weaving the Future" carpet.
Through the fragment we trace the journey of the fragment owners and their collabs as they explore, experiment and creatively advance socially relevant themes. Here is the fragment as we are sending it on this three and a half-year journey.
Follow this story to observe the transformations the fragment undergoes over the course of these years...
...and on we go...
...with Yara Abou Fakher...
A 17th-century Caucasian carpet, severely damaged during World War II, was rewoven in 2022 in Rajasthan (India) by a family. From over 2.3 million knots, a replica was created, which was divided into 100 fragments and is now traveling around the world. One of these fragments, No. 25, arrived today in Dresden. I am very grateful to be able to share my story as part of this project.
My name is Yara Abou Fakher. I was born on August 4, 1992, in Al Swaidaa in southern Syria and grew up in Damascus. At the age of five, I began my musical education at the “Sulhi Al-Wadi” music school in Damascus, where I studied music theory, choir singing, and violin.
In 2011, the war in Syria began. At the same time, I was studying violin at the Higher Institute of Music in Damascus. For four years, I experienced the war up close. In September 2015, I completed my studies and decided to leave Syria. That same year, after a very long journey, I arrived in Germany, where I have lived in Dresden ever since.
I arrived without my violin, as the journey to Germany was very long, exhausting, and dangerous. A year and a half later, my violin finally reached me from Syria. That period was very difficult for me—I was in a new place and, for the first time since I was five years old, without my instrument.
I often had nightmares in which I could no longer play. I frequently woke up at night with tears in my eyes, trying to “play air violin” while singing the repertoire of my graduation concert.
When my violin finally arrived in my new home, a new challenge began: unpacking it and gradually regaining my ability to play.
Since then, I have been working in Dresden as a music educator. I am employed as a violin teacher at the Heinrich Schütz Conservatory, a municipal institution of the city of Dresden. In addition, I teach in the social music project “Musaik – Grenzenlos musizieren e. V.”
Alongside my educational work, I am also active as a musician in various intercultural and interreligious ensembles and bands. I am also involved as a coordinator in different social, musical, and political projects.
I compose my own music and have founded two musical projects: “Trio al-Andalus,” a string trio that interprets energetic music of Spanish and Syrian origin and transcends cultural boundaries, and the techno band “Coma,” which innovatively combines beats, sounds, and melodies with Arabic and European elements and instruments.
Being a woman who belongs to a religious minority, has Arab roots, and lives in a city like Dresden means facing challenges and enduring prejudice on a daily basis. It means raising my voice and confidently asserting my existence.
My life moves not only between two cultures but along a boundary that continually challenges me. And it is precisely through this that I grow—stronger, more aware, and unwavering.
For me, music is more than sound, more than a feeling that gets under the skin—it is a force for change. It reflects reality unfiltered and shows the world as it is. I am convinced that music can not only move people emotionally but can also bring about change.
In my concerts, I address political and social themes such as love, fear, doubt, loss, displacement, war, identity, and belonging. I make visible what is often overlooked, question patterns, and open spaces for new perspectives and encounters.
For me, music is not only a refuge but also a form of resistance against injustice, discrimination, hatred, and violence. It provides support and hope and is a step toward a world filled with peace. And that is exactly my path: when my bow touches the strings—on stage or in the classroom—I try to plant a seed in people’s hearts that can grow and bring about change.
I believe that our shared survival depends on genuine communication, mutual acceptance, and respect for difference. Only when we see the humanity in a person before judging their identity can peaceful coexistence succeed.
Instagram: @yara_aboufakher
Don’t scroll away just yet—my music follows.
Here are some links to my musical work:
Composition
Alshawq (improvisation)
Part 1 https://youtu.be/DT56ecm2lMk
Part 2 https://youtu.be/zOUIIFhRpqk
Live excerpts
https://youtube.com/@orninasyrianorchestra4532
https://www.youtube.com/live/aRD4t76_jnU
Podcast
https://www.youtube.com/live/aRD4t76_jnU
https://open.spotify.com/episode/7v9zbOu1WjG8bjJ2aTjgsm
Interviews
The journey begins ... with Nima Haghighatian
A cultural trip along the Silk Road (or more accurately, roads) would be incomplete without looking at the art of carpet weaving.
It is thus imperative to recognize the tangible and intangible value of the rich designs, know-how, and traditions connected to the making, selling, and use of carpets across Eurasia. For many countries across the ancient vast trading networks that comprise these roads, they occupy a special place in both their history and modern day to day.
As first owners, our hopes for this carpet fragment is that it will be able to travel to as many places as possible from Xi’an to Isfahan and from Aleppo to Bukhara.
Setting the Stage
Carpets are a fundamental part of the life of Iranian families. Some might go to the extent of saying that “no home is complete without a carpet.” The social significance of carpets, besides their artistic qualities, is determined by their function as a tangible pulling force to get together and exchange stories, laughs, and food.
In the small town of my ancestors, most of the women worked as weavers in addition to taking care of their families. Around 1952, my great-grandfather was the first in the family to open a carpet shop in the Isfahan Carpet Bazaar. He would collect carpets directly from weaver families from different towns in the central region of Iran. My grandfather was groomed to take over the business and continue the tradition. Between the 60s and 80s, he even travelled directly to the producers and collected new designs, bringing my father along with him on these trips. Now in the third generation of carpet sellers, around 1996 my father established his workshops and hired weavers for some years. He also collaborated in the design of patterns.
During my childhood, I spent several summers in the shop sleeping and dreaming on top of the carpets. Sometimes also helping. Unfortunately, the economic situation of the country, paired with cheaper machine-made designs and a decrease in export demand meant that the business was no longer profitable. My father closed the shop before I reached high school. He didn’t talk much about it thereafter.
I came to Germany in 2017 to study my masters. The journey of #25 starts with receiving it in Berlin and planning the carpet’s journey back to the birthplace of carpet cultures: the middle ground between Asia and Europe, where sitting down crossed-legged on a carpeted floor, sipping tea, is at the heart of cultural identity.
To set the stage...
... the carpet joined me at Dervish, a family-owned restaurant in Berlin that brings Uzbek cuisine to the bustling neighbourhood of Friedrichshain and offers vegan twists to many classics of the nomadic culinary traditions of central Asia.
I chose this place looking to experience as much as possible the Silk Road ambience but also because our shared interest in the transcultural stories of the region made them potential excellent future carpet owners!
I chose a meal...
... of Manti (fried or steamed dumplings) and Qutab (thin rolled dough with filling). Followed by a soothing soft halva (sweet cold confection) and tea. Many of the flavours reminded me of growing up in a Persian home. Others were characteristically Uzbek.
And yet others highlighted the bridge the restaurant builds as they bring their food to Germany. I thought it was a good metaphor for the transcultural bridges that the Silk Roads built and the cultural collaborations that lie in Fragment 25’s journey.
For this is what life is!
As we send off this carpet onto its long journey, we invite you to reflect on the beauty of sharing a meal with loved ones. To turn ordinary moments of the day into profound opportunities for creating deeper connections. As the Persian poet Omar Khayyām said:
می نوش که عمر جاودانی این است
خود حاصلت از دور جوانی این است
هنگام گل و باده و یاران سرمست
خوش باش دمی که زندگانی این است
Drink wine for this life of ours is eternal,
This is all that is gained from the time of your youth,
It’s the time of flowers, wine, and loved ones drinking together
So rejoice in this moment, for this is what life is!
What comes next?
To reignite my family's passion for the carpet heritage of Iran, I will send the fragment to the city of Isfahan (my hometown). There, it can work its magic, bringing together some shop owners, weavers, or simply families —all of us who connect to carpets in different ways— remembering, and documenting their stories so they will not be forgotten.
Then, hopefully, the fragment makes it to other locations along the Silk Roads, and each person weaves their stories into this archive.
Front and Back
About the Project
The Museum for Islamic Art's project, #CulturalxCollabs - Weaving the future, celebrates the transformative power of cultural exchange and the shared threads that unite us all. All the things we love, have loved and will ever love come from cultural exchange, migration and diversity, or as we like to call it #CulturalxCollabs.
100 carpet fragments, cut from a replica of the iconic dragon carpet, will travel the world (delivered by DHL). The fragments will ignite #CulturalxCollabs with co-creators, inspiring human ingenuity, fostering community and ultimately demonstrating how cultural exchange enriches all our lives.
Follow #CulturalxCollabs on Instagram as the project unfolds...
...or learn more here
Weaving the Future
Join us on a journey with 100 carpet fragments as they travel around the world for three and a half years, finding temporary homes while bridging cultural boundaries, fostering worldwide community united by the power of human stories.
Fragment Journeys
100 carpet fragments part of the "CulturalxCollabs - Weaving the Future" project. Follow their journeys through the ever changing owners' over three and a half years.
Where is the Dragon?
The star of the "CulturalxCollabs - Weaving the Future" project is a so-called Caucasian dragon carpet from the 17th century. A dragon carpet - all well and good - but: where is the dragon?
