During our recent trip to France we spent several days with Luc Aujame and his wife, Joanne, in their lovely farmhouse just outside of Lyon. Part of the visit was social, but there was also a more serious element, namely to pick up a collection of garments and textiles that they offered to the TRC Leiden as a donation nearly three years ago – namely just before Covid hit.
Jacket made from off-white, felted woollen cloth decorated around the neck and front opening, shoulder seam and sleeve hems with brown stripes. Nuristan, Afghanistan, 1960s (TRC 2022.1942).
There are 69 items in the Aujame donation, which mainly come from Afghanistan, but there are also some Indian and South American items, reflecting the travels and work of the Aujame family. More specifically, the various Afghan pieces were acquired, in fact, by Luc’s parents, Roger Aujame (1922-2010) and Edith Schreiber Aujame (1919-1998), in the early 1960s. Roger Aujame was an architect and both he and his wife were for many years involved with the UN. Between 1961-1965 they were based in Kabul.
Pair of hand knitted, woollen socks, Afghanistan, 1960s (TRC 2022.1931a-b).The Afghan items are unusual because we know when they were purchased. In addition, many of the items represent ‘everyday’ clothing of the people from what is known as Nuristan, in the mountains east of the Afghan capital of Kabul. This donation therefore fills a gap in the TRC's already extensive Afghan collection and means we can pay more attention to a community in Afghanistan that are often neglected in favour of those living in the main urban centres such as Kabul and Kandahar.
Nuristan is still an isolated part of Afghanistan. Until the late 19th century, it was known as Kafiristan, 'Land of the Heathens' (non-Muslims). When around that time the Afghan Amir Abdul Rahman Khan and the British rulers in India agreed upon a border that would separate their respective dominions, the Afghan rulers were free to occupy Kafiristan and rename it as Nuristan, 'Land of the Light'.
Many of the local people were killed or enslaved, and their pre-Islamic religion, which is related to the non-Islamic religions of India, was suppressed and in the end almost completely wiped out (the Kalash Kafirs in modern Pakistan, just across the border with Afghanistan, are culturally the only relics of this ancient group). But although now converted to Islam, the Nuristanis in Afghanistan, as they were henceforth called, kept many of their traditional customs, including their textiles and garments.
Pair of short, woollen trousers, Nuristan, Afghanistan, 1960s (TRC 2022.1951).Among the Nuristan items given to the TRC are men’s clothing, including a waistcoat (TRC 2022.1941), two jackets (such as TRC 2022.1942 and TRC 2022.1943), two sashes (TRC 2022.1953 and TRC 2022.1954) and baggy, short trousers in hand spun and woven woollen cloth (TRC 2022.1951 and TRC 2022.1952).
There are also locally made boots that are decorated with metal eyelets on the heels (TRC 2022.1937a-b and TRC 2022.1938a-b) and a pair of leather shoes that have soles and sides made out of a single piece of thick leather (TRC 2022.1933a-b). There is even a pair of brown, woollen puttees (TRC 2022.1939a-b).
Pair of handmade shoes with both leather and suede elements. The vamp seams are decorated with a line of embroidery using narrow strips of leather. Nuristan (Afghanistan, 1960s (TRC 2022.1933a b).There are also three hand spun and woven floor coverings (TRC 2022.1944, TRC 2022.1945 and TRC 2022.1946), made from goat hair that still smells strongly of goat even after nearly sixty years.
In addition to the Nuristan objects, the TRC has been given a large number of high-resolution scans of many colour photographs and slides taken in the 1960s in Afghanistan. A selection of these images will be put online shortly.
The Aujame donation also includes two chapans (TRC 2022.1947 and 2022.1948) that come from northern Afghanistan and are of the type made famous by the former Afghan president, Hamid Karzai.
In addition there are three pairs of hand knitted socks (TRC 2022.1929a-b, TRC 2022.1930a-b and TRC 2022.1931a-b), two embroidered Mangal coats from southeastern Afghanistan (TRC 2022.1927 and TRC 2022.1928), an embroidered prayer mat made of thick felt (TRC 2022.1936), as well as several shirts decorated with whitework (khamak) from the Kandahar region of Afghanistan (TRC 2022.1967 [with accompanying trousers], TRC 2022.1968 and TRC 2022.1969).
Ten metre long, hand spun and hand woven yurt band. Turkmen, Afghanistan, 1960s (TRC 2022.1926).
There is also a very long (10 metres) woven yurt band (Turkmen, TRC 2022.1926), as well as some Indian ikats (TRC 2022.1920 – 2022.1923), again from the 1960s. The latter items add more depth to the TRC’s reference collection of ikats from around the world.
Silk and cotton chapan from northern Afghanistan, 1960s (TRC 2022.1947).After our visit to the Aujame family we then went on to Nice to see some other friends, May and Rolando Schinasi, who donated Afghan items to the TRC Collection a few years ago (click here). It turned out that May and Rolando knew the Aujame’s while they were all in Kabul! And we have been able to put them back in contact with each other.
More details about the Aujame donation will appear over the next few weeks. In addition, we will be adding various items from the Aujame's donation to the TRC’s digital exhibition of Afghan clothing (click here).
Gillian Vogelsang-Eastwood, 19 July 2022
