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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 Lara Shadgi
Sweileh, now a bustling district within Greater Amman (established as a district in the 1990s), stands as one of the three primary settlements for the Chechen community in Jordan. On one of its hills, nestled beside a swimming pool, sits the headquarters of the Chechen Women Charitable Society. It is here that I first encountered Lara Mufti (also known by her Circassian name, Shadgi), the next nominee and temporary custodian of Fragment #55. Lara is a dancer and artist of Circassian origin who has been teaching Caucasian dance alongside coach Raed As'hab. Together, they lead weekly dance lessons for children and youth from the Chechen community. Their group bears a beautiful name: Laman Az, which translates to "Voice from the Mountains" a name chosen to emphasise the spirit, strength, and echo of the Caucasian mountains and their traditions. The name "Laman Az" serves as a poetic bridge between Chechnya's landscape and the community's identity in their Jordanian home.
Together, they are staging traditional Chechen performances, such as the Lousar - a graceful wedding dance - as well as intricate formation pieces from the Caucasus that narrate entire stories. These performances bring the spirit of the mountains to celebrations and occasions across Jordan. As Lara explains regarding their mission for the younger generation:
"The vision of Laman Az is to build a strong connection for our young people to their cultural identity, ensuring they carry the echo of their Caucasian roots forward while growing up in their Jordanian home."
I have always found Chechen dance utterly fascinating. The women seem to hover and swirl just above the ground, gently spreading their arms in elegant movements that mimic flying wings. In contrast, the men execute impossible hoops and jumps, twirling their wrists and tapping their feet to the rhythm of fast drumrolls. The music is driven by traditional instruments like the "ponder", a three string ukulele with an elegant corpus, alongside modern keyboards, percussion, orchestral elements, and digital production techniques creating a bridge between tradition and modernity while still honouring the original spirit of Chechen culture.
When I arrived in Jordan for an extended family visit in 2025, I told my family, "I want to learn about Chechen dance!" My cousin Omar made an appointment for me, and I immediately fell in love with the group. From small children to cool teenagers, everyone practiced with remarkable dedication and perseverance. I started to practice my first steps with them, stumbling like a bumble bee amongst elves, to follow the coaches' instructions on posture, footwork and the movements of arms – and enjoying all of it! The instructors were incredibly thoughtful, possessing a keen eye for every student's progress, offering gentle guidance and detailed explanations.
What struck me most was how warmly the young dancers embraced me as a newcomer. They were remarkably respectful and supportive, including me in an unobtrusive, attentive, and generous way that made me feel like part of the circle rather than an outsider trying to catch up.
The video accompanying this post captures the arrival of the carpet fragment at the dance venue. It was filmed by Luna Beano, head of the board of members of the Chechen Women Charitable Society in Jordan—notably the youngest head of a non-profit organization in Jordan! The footage was edited by Sara Jammo, a longtime member of the Laman Az ensemble.
These initial recordings mark the beginning of a larger vision: a documentary film currently in the planning stages. For now, the fragment #55 stories on the CulturalxCollabs portal serve as a vital platform to build interest, share the community's voice, and lay the groundwork for this future collaboration. By weaving the story of this artifact with the living culture of the Chechen community in Amman, we aim to spark the conversations and connections necessary to bring the full documentary to life.
We invite you to follow our progress on CulturalxCollabs as we explore how heritage, memory, and art can come together to shape this upcoming project.
Get involved & follow us on Instagram:
The journey begins...
...with Natalie 'Tasha' Farouq Allaidin Arsalan
A Thread Across Continents
There is something quietly remarkable about the moment fragment #55 arrived at my door in Berlin — a piece of a Caucasian dragon carpet, woven from the same region my father's family once called home. The coincidence felt almost cinematic: a woman of German–Chechen–Jordanian roots receiving fragment #55 from the Caucasus. My cat Belle claimed it first. She seemed to know its worth.
My connection to this fragment runs deep. In 2025, I spent three months in Jordan — the first extended visit in 55 years — living alongside my father's family in Zarqa, one of the main hubs of Chechen–Jordanian life. It was there that I encountered a community of extraordinary women: a dance teacher at the Chechen Charitable Society for Women, Jordan's first female ambassador of Chechen origin, and a grassroots organizer running a charity for Chechen families. Their stories stayed with me.
A Family Road That Became a Film
My parents' honeymoon in 1966 was no ordinary trip. They drove a white Volkswagen Beetle from Cologne all the way to Zarqa — a journey across borders, cultures, and time that still echoes in our family. That road, and the routes that carried Chechen families from the Caucasus to the Levant decades before, are the invisible threads I want to weave into a film.
Fragment #55 is a documentary in development. It will tell the story of Chechen–Jordanian women whose ancestors fled Tsarist persecution in the early 20th century and were resettled by the Ottoman Empire along the historic Constantinople–Mecca railway. Many settled in Al-Sukhna, near Az-Zarqa — including my father's family, who came as part of 73 families building a new life in a new land.
The film will follow three interwoven threads: how women pioneered the founding of this community; how successive generations have navigated identity across borders; and how living culture — sewing, carpentry, music, dance, storytelling — keeps a language and its values alive, even far from the Caucasus.
An Outsider's Curiosity, an Insider's Heart
I grew up in Germany with a German mother. I came to this community with an outsider's eyes — curious, attentive, moved. But the warmth, hospitality, and resilience I found there pulled me inward. Fragment #55 — the documentary, and the carpet piece — is my way of holding on to what I witnessed: a community that has preserved something rare, something irreplaceable, while embracing the world around it.
Get involved!
Offer archive photos, recordings or contacts, or follow me on Instagram: @fragment55_docfilm
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.
Creating a carpet
A 17th-century Caucasian carpet, burned by an incendiary bomb during the Second World War, serves as the model for a replica, woven in 2022 by a family in Rajasthan, India. Over 2.3 million knots later, it is being sent out into the world in 100 fragments. This is the story of how it came to be.
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?
