I first met Joanna Barakat over five years ago, when she shared her deep fascination with tatreez and told me she was working on a book that celebrated this beautiful tradition. Fast forward to today, and Narrative Threads: Palestinian Embroidery in Contemporary Art has been officially released. Published by Saqi Books, it features more than 200 works by 24 established and emerging artists who incorporate tatreez motifs across diverse media—from painting and sculpture to film, photography, street art, and textiles. The book is filled with rich storytelling, insightful essays by leading art historians, and vibrant imagery that showcases how contemporary artists are weaving Palestinian embroidery into powerful narratives of identity, resilience, displacement, and cultural pride
About the Author
Joanna Barakat expresses her deep-rooted connection to Palestinian culture through her self-reflective artwork, which combines 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 Post-National Communication from SOAS, University of London. Her artwork has featured in numerous publications and exhibited in prestigious venues such as at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London and the American Museum Katzen Art Center in Washington, DC. 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.
A multidisciplinary artist weaving together textiles, installations, and cultural narratives. Through her work, Hejazi employs Palestinian embroidery motifs to explore themes of memory and heritage, blending tradition with contemporary storytelling.
Palestinian‑American textile artist based in New York, Nassar creates hand‑embroidered panels that fuse traditional tatreez patterns with imagined landscapes. His pieces—often collaborative with West Bank artisans—explore identity, homeland, and cultural transmission.
A political and historical commentator through embroidery, Abdel Hamid reinterprets key Middle Eastern events—such as Sykes‑Picot and the Arab Spring—into minimalist embroidered works. One striking example, Son, this is a waste of time, is white thread on white canvas
Lebanese‑Palestinian artist whose practice centers on reviving tatreez within mixed‑media and layered textile pieces. Atrouni uses delicate stitches to forge powerful statements of cultural identity, weaving contemporary art with ancestral craft.
