Stitching Palestine into contemporary art
From museum installations to award-winning film, Inaash partners with leading Palestinian artists to carry traditional embroidery into the contemporary world.
The Twelve Windows
The Twelve Windows project, created by Inaash and developed into a museum installation with world-renowned Palestinian installation artist Mona Hatoum, presents a ‘visual’ map of Palestine in a series of 12 exquisite embroidered panels. Each one square-meter ‘Window’ represents, through its motifs, stitches and patterns, a key region of Palestine — together they comprise a vibrant map of Palestine.
Rigorously planned by Malak Al Husseini Abdulrahim — the culmination of over 40 years of dedicated research and design — the panels were meticulously embroidered by Inaash’s most experienced craftswomen.
Drawing on the timeless designs of upper and lower Galilee, Jaffa, Ramallah, Bethlehem and Jerusalem, Hebron, coastal and central Gaza and Beersheba, the Twelve Windows explore historic Palestine through the longstanding tradition of its embroidery — now one of the most tangible facets of Palestinian culture and a symbol of resistance.
In Hatoum’s hands the panels became a brilliant metaphor for Palestinian life under occupation. The installation was exhibited at the Kunstmuseum St. Gallen (Switzerland), the Alexander and Bonin Gallery (New York), the 2015 Arts of the Islamic World Gala at the Museum of Fine Arts (Houston), and in major Hatoum retrospectives at Le Centre Pompidou (Paris) and Tate Modern (London).
The Twelve Windows was developed with the aid of a grant from Taawon.
Stitching Palestine
Loosely based on the Inaash Twelve Windows project, the multi award-winning documentary Stitching Palestine explores the meaning of traditional Palestinian embroidery within a 21st-century aesthetic, articulated through twelve Palestinian women who are leaders in their field.
These women — lawyers, artists, housewives, activists, architects and politicians — stitch together the story of their homeland, their dispossession, and their unwavering determination that justice will prevail.
Produced jointly with Inaash and Taawon by Forward Film Productions and directed by Carol Mansour, the film has screened across the Americas, Australia, Asia, Europe and the Middle East, winning best documentary awards in Boston and Delhi.
Samia Halaby
In collaboration with the legendary Palestinian artist Samia Halaby, Inaash presents a masterpiece that bridges traditional Palestinian embroidery and contemporary art. Crafted by Palestinian refugee women Najat Bachir and Fatima Moussa in the Burj el Chemali camp in Tyre, Lebanon, the panel fuses ancient craftsmanship with modern vision.
Guided by Halaby, the design features a vibrant tapestry of DMC floss colors. Each square is a testament to countless hours of dedication, weaving colour and light into an intricate, luminous whole.
The work places Inaash at the forefront of blending modern aesthetics with the rich traditions of Palestinian embroidery — a narrative of artistic ingenuity and a symbol of cultural continuity, and a testament to the enduring legacy of Palestinian craftsmanship.