On February 8, 2020, a presentation of “Narrative Carpets in Afag Karimova's Creativity”, a carpet artist, teacher at Khazar University, and Director of the University's carpet museum, was jointly organized by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the Carpet Museum at the National Carpet Museum.
The event was attended by well-known art and science figures of the country, Professor Hamlet Isakhanli, the Founder of Khazar University, Chairman of its Board of Directors and Trustees, and University staff members, as well as fine arts society.
Asya Shiraliyeva, Deputy Director of the Carpet Museum, Honored Art Worker, opened the event. In her speech, she extensively spoke about Afag Karimova's creativity and reminded interesting facts. She noted that during the first visit of the Great Leader Heydar Aliyev to the United States, he presented Bill Clinton a carpet with the theme of Azerbaijan, woven based on Afag Karimova's design. In a follow-up letter of gratitude sent to Azerbaijan after the visit, Clinton said that he “understood and admires the meaning of a beautiful carpet”. The speaker said that a number of Afag Karimova's works were exhibited in France-Paris and other cities organized by the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and UNESCO.
Delivering her speech, Afag Karimova indicated that her works, which she worked on for many years, are now a permanent exhibit of museums in our country and abroad, noting that despite the fact that the works were created being devoted to anniversaries, they still sequenced in chronological order covering the history and culture of Azerbaijan from Dede Gorgud to modern times. She further provided interesting facts about narrative carpets such as “Dede Gorgud”, “Nizami”, “Mahsati Ganjavi”, “Fuzuli-500”, “Vazeh”, “Huseyn Javid”, “Sensiz”, “Natavan”, “Samed Vurgun”, “60s”, “Intellectuals” and spoke about the innovations in the storyline and technical specifications of each carpet.
Five carpets designed in accordance with Nizami Ganjavi’s “Khamsa”, Mahsati Ganjavi carpet and silk batik prepared by the order of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, have been on display for over a year in Paris, Cannes, Strasbourg and Reims, and are now one of the Azerbaijani Cultural Center ‘s permanent exhibits in Paris.
After the speech, Afag Karimova answered to the questions of the participants.
At the event, the carpet museum employee Durdana Gadirova and others spoke about the creativity of Afag Karimova. At the end, Professor Hamlet Isakhanli shared his positive impressions about the event with the participants.