Each Might 15 for the final 76 years, Palestinians around the globe commemorate the Nakba (Arabic for “the disaster”), throughout which 750,000 Palestinians had been completely displaced from their homelands because of the institution of the State of Israel. Throughout this mass exodus, the traditional embroidery follow often known as taṭrīz or tatreez turned a useful manner for Palestinians to protect their historical past and tradition.
Within the final seven months, amid Israel’s relentless assaults on Gaza, many have engaged in and revived the shared follow. In November, artist Maya Amer used the embroidery as a technique to visualize the greater than 8,000 Palestinians who had been killed by Israeli airstrikes at the moment. Others led the collaborative venture Tatriz for Palestine to honor the civilians killed by the Israeli army in Gaza. At present, the dying toll within the Gaza Strip has risen to more than 34,904.
Zain Masri, now primarily based in Dubai, was first introduced to the follow as a baby whereas visiting her grandmother in Jordan. Many years later, when she reconnected with the artwork type through the pandemic, she rapidly realized that there was an pressing want for accessible, high-resolution, and easy taṭrīz patterns within the worldwide embroidery group and Palestinian diaspora.
To handle this situation, Masri launched the Tirazain Initiative final summer time — a free on-line searchable library obtainable in English and Arabic containing digitized patterns for multiple thousand taṭrīz motifs.
Along with accessing sources that hint the cultural significance and historical past of the artwork follow, customers can discover patterns within the database by filtering search outcomes primarily based on material, locations of origin, and venture length.
“Taṭrīz motifs are wealthy in symbolism and that means,” Masri advised Hyperallergic final August, including that symbols depicting wildlife, geometric shapes, and on a regular basis objects are rooted in connections to land, nature, and group tales, serving as a “visible language” for Palestinian storytelling. A few of the commonest motifs are impressed by Palestinian crops and wildlife, such because the cypress tree, the palm tree, and leeches. Different frequent insignias embrace geometric squares, chevrons, and eight-pointed stars.
Courting back 3,000 years, the intergenerational artwork type consists of patterns and symbols hand-stitched with naturally dyed threads onto clothes, together with loose-fitting attire often known as thobes, veils, trousers, jackets, and headdresses, as a technique to determine one’s regional homeland, familial lineage, financial place, and marital standing. Whereas girls residing in rural villages originated the follow, it has since unfold and advanced throughout the Palestinian cultural panorama, serving as an essential reflection of heritage and historical past. In 2021, UNESCO added the embroidery follow to its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Masri advised Hyperallergic that she hoped the digital library would assist present “a platform for Palestinian girls to share their work and to attach with different taṭrīz fans,” in addition to promote the artwork type throughout cultures and communities.
“Earlier than 1948, taṭrīz was a thriving custom in Palestine and each area had its personal distinctive motifs,” Masri mentioned, explaining how these displaced by Israeli settlers through the Nakba used it to protect Palestinian tradition and identification.
The craft turned a logo of Palestinian perseverance and resistance, unifying members of the diaspora by way of brightly coloured threads documenting their household historical past and heritage. It additionally transformed as Palestinian refugees migrated to different components of the world and commenced exchanging cultural practices with different communities, growing new kinds of cross-stitches and experimenting with completely different thread and cloth shade combos.
“At present, taṭrīz is a reminder of the resilience of the Palestinian folks, and their willpower to protect their traditions,” Masri mentioned.
Associated