Palestinian Embroidery and Jewelry Sale

media release: Palestine Partners is thrilled to present an afternoon with Palestinian textile artist Laila Hasan, Sunday, June 9, from 1:30 to 3:30 at Madison Quaker Meeting House, 1704 Roberts Ct, Madison.

Laila will have beautiful Palestinian hand embroidery and jewelry available for sale, made by women in the Al Khalil/Hebron area of the West Bank. She will be available to talk about the lives of the women who have made the items she has brought with her, and about the impact of 76 years of Israeli occupation on Palestinian women and their families. Laila is active in bringing women textile artists together to develop shared sales opportunities for these hand made items and creating a means of earning an income for women artisans, many of whom are now the sole economic support for their families.

The event is free and open to the public. Palestinian snacks will be served and Laila will be available to talk in an informal setting.

The United Nations’ cultural agency (UNESCO) includes the art of Palestinian embroidery, or tatreez in Arabic, in its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The craft, which dates back more than 3,000 years, is a traditional form of cross-stitch embroidery originally made and worn in rural areas, known for its colored threads and unique patterns. The colors used symbolize different stages of life, and different shades of the same color denote regional differences.

Over time, the art has also taken on a meaning of resistance as it continues to play a key role in Palestinian cultural and even economic life. After the Palestinian Nakba in 1948, when more than 700,000 people were expelled from their homes across historic Palestine, the art became a symbol of that displacement. Women wore their thobes (traditional embroidered dresses) or carried them on their backs as a statement of the very ‘existence’ of the villages they had been expelled from. Today tatreez is a vibrant form of artistic expression and resistance throughout Palestine.

Palestine Partners offers online sales of hand embroidery and jewelry made by women in the AlKhalil/Hebron area. Their work is available at https://palestinepartners.org/shop-women-in-hebron