Narrative Threads

About the Book

For centuries, Palestinian women wrote the stories of their lives and land with a needle and thread. Their embroidery, or tatreez, inspired hundreds of artists who reinterpreted and transformed it into a symbol of Palestinian identity, steadfastness and resistance.

Narrative Threads celebrates the immense beauty and significance of Palestinian embroidery in contemporary art. Joanna Barakat documents and features more than 200 works by twenty-four established and emerging artists, who incorporate the motifs and symbolism of tatreez across diverse media – from painting, sculpture and textile to film, photography and street art. While some artists preserve traditional forms, others transform tatreez to explore themes of displacement, resilience and belonging. Together, their works offer a dynamic reflection on Palestinian heritage and identity.

With insightful essays by leading art historians Dr Tina Sherwell, Wafa Ghnaim and Rachel Dedman, Narrative Threads reveals the power of Palestinian embroidery as a visual language that recounts the past, connects us to the present and envisions a different, hopeful future.

About the Author

Joanna Barakat is a Palestinian artist with a multi-disciplinary practice that focuses on the Palestinian experience through various mediums such as mixed media, painting and embroidery. Barakat received her BA in Art and Design from Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London, and her MA in Global Media and Postnational Communication from SOAS, University of London. Her artwork was featured in numerous publications and exhibited in prestigious venues. Complementing her art practice, she shares her passion for Palestinian embroidery by teaching workshops and through her Instagram page, The Tatreez Circle. Born in Jerusalem and raised in Los Angeles, she currently lives in Abu Dhabi.

Reviews

'An impactful account of the role tatreez plays as a tool of cultural affirmation and resistance [...] What truly resonates, amidst the myriad ways in which artists have sought to incorporate a piece of their homeland into their art, is the way in which tatreez in its contemporary expression echoes the resilience of the Palestinian people.'
Canvas Magazine