"Papakh" occupies a central position within Caucasian cultural heritage as a cylindrical sheepskin hat historically associated with masculine honor, social standing, and regional identity. Beyond its utilitarian function, the papakh functioned as a semiotic object: the way it was worn could signal a man’s place of origin, while its very presence conveyed dignity and respectability.
In this body of work, the papakh is recontextualized as a sculptural form, abstracted from its ethnographic roots and re-inscribed with contemporary meaning. By crafting “modern papakhs” such as the Cyber Papakh or the Gold Digger’s Papakh, the project mobilizes the hat’s identity-carrying function to interrogate how cultural symbols adapt—or are appropriated—within shifting socio-economic and technological environments.
Through this process, the papakh becomes a critical lens for examining the construction of identity in the present day. Its transformation into ironic, hybridized forms highlights the tension between heritage and modernity, while also questioning the persistence of traditional markers of honor within rapidly globalizing cultural contexts.
