A View from the Window, 2026
Pile carpet
240 × 160 cm
As a woman raised with one father and two brothers – under “protection” defined through various boundaries and restrictions, Kafiya created this work based on her personal experiences and observations, grounded in real-life situations, to encourage the viewer to think more deeply about this subject. In a home where all the men are seen as having the “right” to control a woman, to set limits for her, and where a woman’s life purpose is even measured by “building a home” (starting a family), does she truly feel safe? What is the value of that presence behind the window, as a person – as a full individual?
In the composition, a female motif is placed behind a small inverted triangle, positioned among three male motifs. This female figure has no facial features. In a society where a woman’s anger or raising her voice is perceived as “crossing the line”, this facelessness symbolizes how her emotions and personality are disregarded. Yet through her red clothing, she still tries to assert her existence. Green tones formed by the male motifs appear, and on the walls extending toward the “window” in front of the woman, rhombus shapes are depicted. These rhombuses function as eye symbols – as if all attention and judgment in that home are fixed on the woman.
The male motifs represent different male figures surrounding the woman. Their clothing and facial structures are built and decorated with the S-shaped “dragon” ornament taken from Karabakh carpet patterns. The dragon motif symbolizes strength and protection; however, on the faces of these male figures it forms an angry expression. This raises the question of how the roles imposed on men affect them as well. The headwear of the men (the traditional Azerbaijani sheepskin hat known as the Bukhara papakh) has historically been associated with the concept of “honor”. In this work, the hat becomes a symbol of how that concept is still used in society as a tool to further restrict and limit women.
These small triangles multiply and turn into a larger hierarchy. Yet the triangular-shaped carpet reads only as the upper covering of a house – the part that protects from sun and rain. The foundation of this home, however, is made of long warp threads that are not tied to each other.
If the safest place for us is supposed to be our home, then for women, what does this “system-built home” actually protect at its foundation? What artist wants from the viewer is to question this and to stay with that question.