The Hajji Baba Research Fellowship in Carpet Studies has named two co-fellows for its annual carpet and textile studies fellowships.
Cosima Stewart (Researcher and Publication Coordinator at HALI Publications, London, and Creative Director of reWoven in Tbilisi) will pursue Lost Connections: Wool and Weaving in 19th Century Georgia, examining the relationship between landscape, pastoralism, wool production, and weaving traditions in 19th-century Georgia through archival research, technical analysis, and fieldwork in Georgia, Azerbaijan, and eastern Türkiye.
Adela Foo, a doctoral candidate at Yale University, will work on the third chapter of her dissertation on the Aq Quyunlu (“White Sheep”) Turkmen confederation (1467–1508), studying three key carpets held at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, the Met, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Her research examines weavers as agents of artistic, political, and technological change, and reexamines the attribution of Para-Mamluk carpets to the Aq Quyunlu period.
The fellowship was established in 2018 to promote original scholarship in carpet studies. Recent fellows include Kristen Pearson (Harvard, 2025–26), Sarah Molina (Harvard, 2024–25), and Dr. Margaret Squires (Courtauld Institute, 2023–24).