In praise of embroidery
tatreez, keffiyeh, & the many ways we are woven together
Hello and salaam, friends. May this reach you in a moment of warmth and rest.
How have you used your hands today? Have you stirred a spoon in a bowl or cup? Have you touched gently the face of one you love? Or passed your thumb over a screen, a different kind of caress, one that swipes and prods in service of your seeing something, reading something—?
Today I pulled a warm hat over my daughter’s head, one hand-knitted upon her birth by a friend. I unpacked my first keffiyeh, a cotton, tasseled scarf purchased from Hirbawi, the only keffiyeh producer in Palestine. I touched with my fingers the fishnet, trade route, and olive leaf motifs stitched through the fabric.
I want to plant in your inbox a moment of celebration—of people insisting on not just living but thriving, of the careful and beautiful work of their hands. I want to witness and cherish the art of symbolic resistance and collective acts of memory making, of archiving. The keffiyeh is one such art, tatreez another. The embroidery and cross-stitching style of tatreez was typically passed down matrilineally, from mother to daughter. It dates back thousands of years, ancient and enduring.
Over time, tatreez has become a symbol of national identity, and when the occupying forces banned the Palestinian flag, women would stitch its colors through their tatreez, defying and resisting its (and their) erasure. There’s so much more to its artistry, past and present—read more about its history and significance here, and here.
Our liberations are all braided together. Our breaths and footfalls are stitched upon the same cloth of the earth. What can I do with my hands today, tomorrow, to better resist annihilation? What can we?
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Some quick updates from me:
Theophanies has a cover and is available for pre-order! You can order a signed and personalized copy from Pegasus Books, a beloved bookstore in Berkeley, CA.
I’m also making embroidered Theophanies crewnecks available for a limited time—demand was higher than I expected, so if you’d like one, please order today <3 You can get one in green or beige, and you can add a signed copy if you’d like. Just fill out the form below.
And finally—I’ll be moderating a conversation between brilliant poets Rachel Mennies & Matthew Olzmann tonight 7 pm EST on the epistolary in poetry! Register below—!
until next time,
Sarah Ghazal Ali