Tatreez as Inherited Knowledge with Wafa Ghnaim
In this episode of Siti’s Stories, Laila sits with Wafa Ghnaim an art and dress historian, embroiderer, educator, and founder of the Tatreez Institute for a conversation about tatreez as inherited knowledge and preservation.
Wafa shares how tatreez entered her life as an intergenerational skill passed through the women around her, and how stitching became something she returned to again and again.
In this conversation, you’ll hear about:
- Her journey from classroom teacher to researcher and eventually becoming a historian of Palestinian dress.
- Her work with major institutions, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Victoria and Albert Museum & why museums that hold Palestinian dress have a moral and ethical responsibility to steward these collections transparently and accessibly
- How witnessing the genocide in Gaza has changed her, and how she turned to writing, archiving, and sitting with the dresses as a way to endure
- The lessons Palestinian women past and present have taught her about identity, self-expression, and being unapologetically yourself
We also settle some very important (and very serious) fashion questions… belts on thobes.
This conversation holds it all: the personal, the educational, and the lighthearted.
Additional resources mentioned in the episode:
- Wafa’s publication with the Met: Tatreez in Time
https://www.metmuseum.org/perspectives/tatreez-in-time - Traditional Palestinian Costume by Hanan Munayyer — one of Wafa’s mentors (including the hot pink thobe discussed in the episode)
https://interlinkbooks.com/traditional-palestinian-costume/
Learn more about Wafa and her mother’s work at:
🌿 tatreezandtea.com
Connect with Wafa:
📍 Instagram: @tatreezandtea
Connect with Siti’s Stories:
🎧 sitisstories.com
📸 @sitis.stories
