An ecstatic collapse : a re-thinking of Faig Ahmed's Carpet series

Abstract

This thesis engages with the critical dialogue surrounding Azerbaijani artist Faig Ahmed’s series of sculptures titled the Carpet series. Offering up a re-thinking of the series, this thesis shapes a nuanced phenomenologically-centered viewing of the Carpet series in order to understand how Ahmed is accessing humor, beauty, and a personal aesthetic that intentionally plays with or critiques standard binary conceptions of contemporary art from the Middle East and historically Islamic countries.