In Conversation: Wafa Ghnaim

Join us for a conversation with Artist Wafa Ghnaim about her process of Tatreez and the tradition of repairing garments with embroidery. In this program we will discuss notions of community gathering over repair in relation to Jimena Sarno’s exhibition Rhapsody. Tatreez is an Arabic word that means embroidery. The communities of the eastern Mediterranean, including Palestine, Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon historically mended, repaired, and recycled their traditional clothing to extend the life of their embroidered heirlooms across generations. These communities often left repairs colorfully visible, making them both decorative and functional, as well as playing with texture, line, shape, and color of the garment. Wafa Ghnaim is an art and dress historian, fashion researcher, embroiderer, educator, and the founder of the Tatreez Institute, specializing in Palestinian embroidery, dress, and adornment. She is the author of Tatreez & Tea (2016) and THOBNA (2023), with research published by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the National Gallery of Singapore. A former instructor at the Smithsonian and Research Scholar at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, she now continues her preservation work as a Mellon Foundation Research Fellow at the Museum of the Palestinian People, and a commissioned designer for Victoria & Albert Museum’s Thread Memory: Embroidery from Palestine.