Preserve, identify, and reclaim endangered Palestinian embroidery designs, histories, and meanings in a major museum in the United States.

My mother, award-winning Palestinian embroiderer Feryal Abbasi-Ghnaim, taught me tatreez at the age of two. Through fundraising, we self-published "Tatreez & Tea: Embroidery and Storytelling in the Palestinian Diaspora" in 2018. We are now researching more expansively, and seeking funding for the identification of Palestinian textile objects at a museum in the United States, as well as up to five private collections in the global Palestinian community. It is crucial to preserve the Palestinian art historical record and ensure the narrative and ownership of Palestinians is clearly stated in the object description at the museums so that they are correctly preserved and not erroneously identified to the ethnicity or nationality of the non-Palestinian donor.

The goal of the self-published book is to identify never-before-seen traditional patterns or unique iterations of traditional and diaspora Palestinian patterns. Once the research is complete for the museums and private collections, I plan to self-publish the work, with photographs, descriptions, and patterns, with permission from the collection owners.

​"Made in Palestine" is not enough.

Currently, the traditional Palestinian costumes are incompletely or inaccurately identified as “Made in Syria” or “Made in Palestine” and no detailed record exists -- the embroidery is merely associated with a donor (Western or Jewish name) and curatorial department. This limited description is not enough. Each Palestinian embroidered garment has a history and village origination, and each motif has a story to tell. My decades of experience, as well as that of my mother Feryal Abbasi-Ghnaim, are qualified to read and document the stories for future researchers and students to come.

The museum receives thousands of non-Western textiles at any given time, and it is unlikely that the Palestinian garments will be identified anytime soon. It is so unlikely, that the museum has asked me to provide research and descriptions on the objects so they can incorporate them in the catalog. I have a written commitment from a generous Palestinian embroidery expert who is willing to peer review my research ahead of publication.

Palestinian embroidery is an endangered art form.

In our first book, “Tatreez & Tea” (2018), we received the critical acclaim of authors, scholars, and practitioners from around the world to our contribution of research that presented never before seen patterns and stories. Our work is intended on correcting and expanding the Palestinian art historical record, where information on Palestinian textiles is cursory at best -- take a look at the Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, referenced by scholars around the world, that doesn’t have a single example of Palestinian costume. Furthermore, a single European painter has hundreds, if not thousands, of research and publications about their life available to researchers. There are less than 75 books available to Palestinians about the overall subject of embroidery. We can only imagine having hundreds of publications about a single Palestinian embroidery practitioner.

The more documentation that is available to practitioners and researchers in the world about Palestinian embroidery, the better. Palestinian embroidery is an endangered art form.

Tatreez & Tea raises awareness about Palestinian life, arts, and culture.

The lack of information about Palestinian arts in the United States amplifies ignorant narratives that enable cultural appropriation as well as ongoing occupation, violence, and dispossession of Palestinians. Tatreez & Tea has taught thousands of classes, lectures, and seminars about Palestinian embroidery around the world, and has now created an unprecedented movement towards practicing and preserving the art form in the younger generation. Palestinians and allies from across the diaspora have shared a common desire to see more research that preserves our sacred stories and reclaim our embroidery whenever possible. 

Funding is limited in the arts. Most particularly in Palestinian embroidery. Your $10, $20, $50 make a difference! We cherish each gift.

“Exile is a series of portraits without names, without contexts. Images that are largely unexplained, nameless, mute.” - Edward Said

Though inadvertent, American museums have excluded Palestinian arts from the public sphere. It is of high importance to swiftly establish a complete art historical record by identifying and correctly categorizing Palestinian textiles, setting the precedence for recognizing the existence of Palestinian civilization. It is also important we continue to document our traditional patterns in publications. It is my passion to digitize patterns, research and document the art history as well as oral history of each garment.

Research areas will include village origination, history of acquisition (if applicable), identification and significance of motifs, identification of fabrics, the purpose of the garment, and any additional applicable details to the function of the ensemble. The body of work will also incorporate digitization of at least 20 of the most significant motifs of the collection, to be determined at a later time and with permission from the museums.

What We Need

A small amount of grant funding has been secured, and seven objects have been reviewed and photographed. There are dozens of objects left to review and photograph. In order to complete the research, we need additional time for virtual tours, and when the museum opens again for researchers, I will need to organize trips to analyze the fabric. Additional funding is needed for the following (and is not limited to); digitization of motifs, analysis of objects and fabrics, photo editing, stipends for researching time, and the hiring of a graphic designer and editor, travel to Amman, Jordan for the presentation of the final body of work for peer review to review all research ahead of publication. Anything raised in addition will be saved to fill any grant funding deficits. 

Please note that the timeline for this book, due to the pandemic and limitations in travel, will be 2-3 years. Any grants obtained will engage with my work for the same duration. All donors will be a part of an exclusive email list that will have monthly updates, and all perks (outside of the print book) will be given at the end of the fundraising campaign. I learned in the first Tatreez & Tea book project, that one year is not enough. I need a minimum of two years to complete this project.

About Tatreez & Tea

Tatreez & Tea has since launched into a global initiative -- the first of it's kind -- offering online and live classes around the world in service of promoting the practice of Palestinian embroidery by anyone, anywhere, anytime. In 2018, Wafa was awarded the prestigious New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in Traditional Arts -- a once in a lifetime award for her work in preserving and teaching Palestinian embroidery around the globe. Tatreez & Tea remains at the forefront of tatreez education and innovation, promoting community, creativity and Palestinian solidarity.

Tatreez & Tea, the book and initiative, asserts that promoting traditional Palestinian embroidery techniques in the diaspora, brings Palestinians spiritually closer to their family, homeland and culture. Tatreez & Tea also asserts that diaspora embroidery carries a meaning and history of its own and that the dominant framework for understanding Palestinian embroidery motifs through its village origination is not sufficient in understanding the embroidery traditions carried on by Palestinian artists for the last century. The motion of embroidering the cross-stitch — pulling the threaded needle through the fabric in a meditative repetition — summons a powerful legacy of all Palestinian women who once did the same. Students and embroiderers in the diaspora can therefore resurrect and honor the legacy of Palestinian grandmothers who once embroidered in their garden, at home, in Palestine. When Palestinians embroider, they are instantly transported through time, place, and space to a simple moment of creation. 

Learn more at www.tatreezandtea.com