Threading Solidarity: Tatreez from Teejop to Palestine

Arts + Literature Laboratory presents Threading Solidarity: Tatreez from Teejop to Palestine, a group exhibition featuring the work of the Teejop Tatreez Community and Women In Hebron: A Cooperative, on view Tuesday, July 7 through Saturday, August 29, 2026. This exhibition was organized by the community curation project, LAB^4.

A reception will be held on Friday, July 10, 2026 from 6:00pm to 8:00pm.

Threading Solidarity honors the communal practice of traditional Palestinian embroidery, known as tatreez. While the earliest instances of cross-stitch in the region can be traced back to the 11th century, a proliferation of Palestinian tatreez occurred in the early 1800s. Motifs of flora and fauna adorned a wide range of things, from traditional wedding garb to everyday household items. A sudden shift in tatreez history occurred in 1948 because of Al-Nakba, Arabic for "the catastrophe", when invading Israeli forces ethnically cleansed 418 Palestinian villages, murdering 13,000-15,000, and displacing 750,000-800,000 Palestinians. Countless tatreez items, passed down through generations, were looted. Stitching became resistance in the face of an occupier who sought to erase Palestinian culture. Earlier centuries of the tatreez library are filled with numerous motifs for "Cypress Tree" and "Star"; After 1948, there grew the number of motifs for "The Bombing" and "Missile." The entire history of Palestine can be read through generations of these threads.

The exhibition highlights the work of tatreez practitioners in both Teejop and Hebron, Palestine. The collective in Hebron is comprised entirely of Palestinian women, while the local community is both multi-ethnic and multi-generational. This matrilineal practice that was once taught to most girls as young as 6 in Palestine has proliferated among first and second-generation Palestinians, and allies, in Teejop. Visitors are invited to honor Palestine and its enduring resilience across space and time.