Material Power: Palestinian Embroidery

This was the first major exhibition of Palestinian embroidery in the UK for over 30 years, with more than 40 dresses and embroidered objects on display lent from important private collections in Jordan and Palestine. Every dress tells a story: whether about the lives of women with their astonishing skills and creativity in the early decades of the last century, or the trauma of displacement as a result of the war of 1948. And reflecting the decades since: in which the vibrant colours and patterns of Palestinian embroidery, now often created for a global market by groups of women, have become symbolic of nationhood, memory, and resistance. Alongside historic dresses were artworks by five contemporary artists, films of embroiderers speaking about their work and rarely seen archive material.

Material Power: Palestinian Embroidery was organised by Kettle’s Yard in collaboration with the Whitworth, The University of Manchester, where it travelled from 24 November 2023 – 7 April 2024.