Mapping Tatreez: Understanding the Making Practices of Palestinian Headdresses through Symbolism, Design, + Adornment
Session 4 | July 27–August 8
Invisible by Wafa Ghnaim, 2019. Tatreez cross-stitch, denim, cotton thread.
Throughout this residency, using a selection of five traditional Palestinian headdresses in the Tatreez Institute Collection from Yaffa, Jerusalem, Gaza, Al Khalil, and Bir Saba from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Wafa Ghnaim will create a digital map of the Palestinian embroidery (tatreez) designs and other material aspects that instruct future reconstruction and builds social, economic, and political historical contexts. This material analysis will be a culmination of work that began in 2023 during her fellowship at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Wafa Ghnaim (she/her) is a Palestinian dress historian, researcher, author, and educator who learned embroidery from her mother, award-winning artist Feryal Abbasi-Ghnaim. In 2017, Ghnaim founded the Tatreez Institute, a global arts education initiative teaching Palestinian, Jordanian, and Syrian embroidery techniques and dress history, as well as stewarding a collection of over 180 rescued dresses from the region. She is the Curator for the Museum of the Palestinian People, and a Research Scholar at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.