Living Threads – 2025

This project was conceived and realized in 2025, during a time of profound tragedy in Gaza. Living Threads 
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Living Threads, back view – 2025 – Installation – 16 × 11.5 × 12.5 ft – Minneapolis Institute of Art
Textile structure with a yellow dome and blue‑bordered panels featuring stylized figures and a vase framed in arches, set on a polygonal base in a gallery
Living Threads, facade – 2025 – Installation – 16 × 11.5 × 12.5 ft – Minneapolis Institute of Art
Living Threads addresses the enduring richness of Palestinian culture and the humanity of its people. Through architecture, embroidery, and storytelling, it affirms lives shaped by beauty, resilience, and meaning—beyond the frame of conflict. This installation centers on the story of a Palestinian American woman in Minnesota whose life is shaped by language, storytelling, and the cosmos. The exterior echoes the Dome of the Rock through its blue palette, layered arches, and screen‑printed Palestinian embroidery motifs such as the cyber tree and the Star of Bethlehem. ASL signs reading “Life is Better with Friends,” “Identity,” and “word” weave her love of language into the façade, while a monumental back portrait shows her signing freedom. Inside, visitors step into another world of glowing colors—a chamber lit by blacklight, where fluorescent Islamic geometric patterns float over a painted constellation of the Seven Sisters (Pleiades), linking her personal narrative to a larger celestial map.
Angled back view of a textile structure with arched panels; interior features patterned black canvas and stylized imagery framed in blue and gold borders
Living Threads, back angled view – 2025 – Installation – 16 × 11.5 × 12.5 ft – Minneapolis Institute of Art.
Enclosed space with black walls covered in fluorescent geometric patterns glowing under UV light; interlocking shapes in green, yellow, and pink form a dense symmetrical design over a painted star constellation
Islamic Cosmos, interior view of Living Threads – 2025 – Screen‑printed and painted canvas with fluorescent ink – Minneapolis Institute of Art
Woman in hijab and a Palestinian dress signing “freedom” in ASL; a Star of Bethlehem flower appears on her right and a Cyprus tree on her left; Arabic calligraphy arches above her head with the lyric “إذا الشعب يوما أراد الحياة فلا بد أن يستجيب القدر
Freedom, detail of Living Threads – Screen‑printed canvas – 6.5 × 8 ft.
Stylized Palestinian dress design in yellow with vertical red, blue, and turquoise stripes; framed by concentric blue arches and surrounded by geometric motifs including orange quilt blocks and diamond shapes with blue borders
Six Stars of Bethlehem, detail of Living Threads – Screen‑printed canvas – 6.5 × 8 ft.
Illustrated sign language gestures spelling out the words “Life,” “Good,” “With,” and “Friends,” arranged across a patterned blue and gold background with stylized framing elements
Life Is Good With Friends, detail of Living Threads – Screen‑printed canvas – 6.5 × 8 ft.
Stylized architectural motif inspired by the Dome of the Rock with symmetrical arches and geometric blue, gold, and white patterns framing symbolic imagery
Dome of the Rock, detail of Living Threads – Screen‑printed canvas – 6.5 × 8 ft – edition 3.