In the frozen burial chambers of Mongolia’s Altai Mountains, felt has survived longer than memory. Preserved in ice for over 2,000 years, the Pazyryk burials revealed wool hangings, animal forms and garments of striking detail. These objects show that felting was not only a practical craft but also part of ritual and status. It carried meaning, skill and care.

In Chitral, wool felting was practised for generations, though it was not originally native to the region. It came from a wider nomadic Central Asian tradition, carried through movement and exchange, and gradually became part of local craft practices. Closely tied to pastoral life, where herding animals and working with wool were part of everyday living, felting was often a communal activity, used in making rugs, garments and household items shaped by the needs of the landscape and climate.

In ‘What the Mountains Hide’, Tahir Zaman brings this history into the present, but not as a continuous or secure tradition. Instead, the exhibition reflects on an endangered practice that is now almost non-existent and no longer actively practised in Chitral. The........

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