SUN OF LACE 2026

The exhibition " Sun Of Lace" explores the relationship between repetition in craft practices and interplay of light and shadow, highlighting the intersection between personal experience and collective memory, as well as between drawing and handmade lace. In this process, light and shadow reveal fading as a trace created through repetition. In the exhibition rooms the Palestinian tradition of handmade lace emerges of the shadow of collective memory. I transform the lace trime that adorns the headscarves of women in Galilee into central motif of my individual act of remembrance. Scarves decorated with lace edges were known as “Oya” scarves, reflecting the cultural and commercial exchange between the Ottoman Empire and European countries such as Britain, Italy, and France during the nineteenth century. “Oya” is a Turkish word and part of Anatolian culture, while the craft of handmade lace-making was also taught by nuns in missionary schools. My passion for shuttle lace-making began with the discovery of an icon of the Virgin Mary in the village of al-Maghar in the Galilee, signed by Yohanna Saliba Al-Orshalimi in 1878. In the icon, the Virgin wears an “Oya” scarf edged with blue handmade lace. For me, this icon became a visual testimony to Palestinian presence and a motivation to learn this technique. I initially began weaving as a contemplative act to fill the emptiness I felt during the residency. Yet it quickly the threads became my constant companions even on the train; at times I would become so immersed in lace making that I forgot to contemplate the breathtaking landscapes passing by.