Keeping you informed about Palestinian cultural heritage research, and our work here at the Archive

Keeping you informed about Palestinian cultural heritage research, and our work here at the Archive

Friday, December 28, 2012

New acquisition - Sinai bedu thob c.1960s

 Bedu thob - Sinai Desert, Egypt
c. late 1960s-1970s
Palestine Costume Archive collection
Acquired Dec 2012

The former Canadian owner of this Sinai Desert bedu thob acquired it at a Sothebys' costume and textile auction in London during the 1980s.   It came to the Archive's collection via Ebay in late 2012 after her unexpected death, with provenance details very kindly confirmed by her son.

Ebay photo
courtesy the seller

The thob is in excellent condition. We don't think it's been worn much since it passed through Sothebys' hands in the 1980s.

It's constructed in the traditional Sinai Desert bedu manner: made up of several different embroidered panels on black cotton sateen (dubayt or tubayt)) roughly stitched together. 

It's a full length robe slightly flared from the waist, with short sleeves. This style became fashionable in the late 1960s and 1970s - you can see an example of the older fuller style thob with winged sleeves here at the Tareq Rajab Museum in Kuwait.  The 1970s date is further confirmed by the brightly coloured floral and geometric patterns on the materials used for lining hems and around the neck:

 Bedu thob - Sinai Desert, Egypt
c. late 1960s-1970s
Palestine Costume Archive collection
Acquired Dec 2012
 Bedu thob - Sinai Desert, Egypt
c. late 1960s-1970s
Palestine Costume Archive collection
Acquired Dec 2012
 Bedu thob - Sinai Desert, Egypt
c. late 1960s-1970s
Palestine Costume Archive collection
Acquired Dec 2012

The thob is decorated with cross stitch embroidery. Traditionally DMC threads (introduced in the region in the mid-1930s) were used. 

The qabbeh chest panel is small in size - a common feature of Sinai bedu dresses where the embroidery focus was on the lower back panel rather than the qabbeh, which was often concealed behind a burqa, as you can see in the 1960s garments below:

Sinai Desert bedu costumes
in the Palestine Costume Archive's collection
from traveling exhibition
"Portraits without names: Palestinian costume"

This garment's qabbeh is embroidered in solid patterns and bordered with red cotton fabric:

 Bedu thob - Sinai Desert, Egypt
c. late 1960s-1970s
Palestine Costume Archive collection
Acquired Dec 2012

In many cases a favored qabbeh is cut from an old garment and reattached to a new, which appears to have happened here, as the embroidery on the rest of the garment differs in design. 

The sleeves are short and embroidered along the upper arm:

 Bedu thob - Sinai Desert, Egypt
c. late 1960s-1970s
Palestine Costume Archive collection
Acquired Dec 2012
 Bedu thob - Sinai Desert, Egypt
c. late 1960s-1970s
Palestine Costume Archive collection
Acquired Dec 2012
 Bedu thob - Sinai Desert, Egypt
c. late 1960s-1970s
Palestine Costume Archive collection
Acquired Dec 2012

Several type of hem stitch are present:

 Bedu thob - Sinai Desert, Egypt
c. late 1960s-1970s
Palestine Costume Archive collection
Acquired Dec 2012
 Bedu thob - Sinai Desert, Egypt
c. late 1960s-1970s
Palestine Costume Archive collection
Acquired Dec 2012

Embroidery is heavy on the skirt panels, which consist of separate pieces for the front, back and two side sections. The front panel includes geometrical designs as well as non traditional designs chosen from European pattern books.

 Bedu thob - Sinai Desert, Egypt
c. late 1960s-1970s
Palestine Costume Archive collection
Acquired Dec 2012

The complex and detailed back panel of a Sinai bedu thob is the most important, in terms of it's cultural language:

 Bedu thob - Sinai Desert, Egypt
c. late 1960s-1970s
Palestine Costume Archive collection
Acquired Dec 2012

If you compare the back panel of the new thob with the purely geometric back panel of a 1940s thob also in the Archive's collection, you can see the influence of European designs:

Back panel of a 1940s Sinai Desert bedu thob
Palestine Costume Archive collection

The new acquisition's back panel also contains these rabbits:

 Bedu thob - Sinai Desert, Egypt
c. late 1960s-1970s
Palestine Costume Archive collection
Acquired Dec 2012

although they are only on one side as the dress was obviously sold before the embroidery was finished.

 Bedu thob - Sinai Desert, Egypt
c. late 1960s-1970s
Palestine Costume Archive collection
Acquired Dec 2012

The inverted V designs at the top of the side panels are also incomplete:

 Bedu thob - Sinai Desert, Egypt
c. late 1960s-1970s
Palestine Costume Archive collection
Acquired Dec 2012
 Bedu thob - Sinai Desert, Egypt
c. late 1960s-1970s
Palestine Costume Archive collection
Acquired Dec 2012

One side contains human figures:

 Bedu thob - Sinai Desert, Egypt
c. late 1960s-1970s
Palestine Costume Archive collection
Acquired Dec 2012

Is the one on the left misplaced, or just incomplete?!

 Bedu thob - Sinai Desert, Egypt
c. late 1960s-1970s
Palestine Costume Archive collection
Acquired Dec 2012

Some embroidery close ups to finish:

 Bedu thob - Sinai Desert, Egypt
c. late 1960s-1970s
Palestine Costume Archive collection
Acquired Dec 2012
 Bedu thob - Sinai Desert, Egypt
c. late 1960s-1970s
Palestine Costume Archive collection
Acquired Dec 2012
 Bedu thob - Sinai Desert, Egypt
c. late 1960s-1970s
Palestine Costume Archive collection
Acquired Dec 2012
 Bedu thob - Sinai Desert, Egypt
c. late 1960s-1970s
Palestine Costume Archive collection
Acquired Dec 2012
We are really pleased to add this thob to the Archive's collection. We have quite a few Sinai Desert bedu outfits. 

Sinai Desert bedu costumes
in the Palestine Costume Archive's collection
from traveling exhibition
"Portraits without names: Palestinian costume"

At the moment we exhibit them in two of our Palestinian costume touring exhibitions:

Sinai Desert bedu costume
in the Palestine Costume Archive's collection
from traveling exhibition
"Portraits without names: Palestinian costume"

as well as in "Secret Splendours: women's costume in the Arab world", as they relate to all the topics and are also very striking.  We would like to curate an exhibition just on Sinai costumes because they really are quite extraordinary.

Sinai Desert bedu costumes
in the Palestine Costume Archive's collection
from traveling exhibition
"Secret Splendours: women's costume in the Arab world"

Especially when you see the whole outfit together.

Sinai Desert bedu costume
in the Palestine Costume Archive's collection
from traveling exhibition
"Secret Splendours: women's costume in the Arab world"
So hopefully you'll see our new acquisition on display in a traveling exhibition soon :)

Sinai Desert bedu and Siwa Oasis costumes
in the Palestine Costume Archive's collection
from traveling exhibition
"Secret Splendours: women's costume in the Arab world"

Saturday, December 1, 2012

Palestinian Film Festival, Brisbane - opening night


From Director Jeni:

We nearly didn't make it to the Brisbane opening of the Palestinian Film Festival.  The freeway was closed due to dreadful crash in which at least one person died (details here). Eventually we were able to get off the freeway and do some skillful driving through Gold Coast suburban roads.  We made it into the cinema just as the lights were going down.

I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the program again (we'd attended the same session in Sydney). Especially "No news" which was great when you know the surprise ending and can concentrate on everything that's going on.  And "Man without a cell phone" is just as much a joy second time through.

At the end I had a chance to see what was in the foyer.



There were two 1980s shawal style dresses on display.


Their owners very kindly allowed me to photograph them (although I didn't get a chance to ask their names).


It's always lovely to see the saru design - it was one of the very few designs used throughout Palestine and now often appears on contemporary garments.


 There was also an olive oil tasting stand:


It was lovely to catch up with the organizers of the film festival, and also to finally meet the amazing Amber Hansen.


What a great night.

Do try and attend the rest of the film festival if you can, it's such a great event and well worth supporting. Again huge kudos to Cultural Media for all their hard work in producing and curating the festival.  They do a brilliant job, and it's bloody hard work!

Sunday, November 25, 2012

The 6 Flowers - keeping Palestinian traditions alive in Gaza

Some of the Six Flowers’ work
courtesy: Rami Almeghari / The Electronic Intifada

We've been so focused on other aspects of Gaza that we missed this Electronic Intifada story last month by journalist and university lecturer  Rami Almeghari who is based in the Gaza Strip.  

Here at the Palestine Costume Archive we look forward to acquiring and preserving for the future National Museum of Palestine some of the important pieces of contemporary Palestinian heritage The 6 Flowers are creating, as they preserve Palestinian traditions as well as documenting their lives in Gaza via their designs.

We hope everyone reading this will join The 6 Flowers's Facebook page and help spread the word about their work and products.
“Six Flowers” help keep Palestinian handicraft tradition alive, adding modern twist 
Rami Almeghari The Electronic Intifada Gaza City 23 October 2012

They call themselves the Six Flowers. They’re not the regular type of flower you’d find in a garden, but you will find them in Gaza City’s al-Tuffah neighborhood, off an unpaved road.
At their two-story family house, surrounded by fruit trees, six sisters spend most of their time creating handmade embroidery in the Palestinian folkloric tradition but using their own designs and innovations. The sisters are: newlywed Nour, 26; Budour, 23, and a graduate in social studies; Nadreen, 24, an arts graduate; Basma, 20, a community rehabilitation graduate; Aya, 19, medical analysis student, and Hiba, a 17-year-old high school student. 
“My sister Nour recently got married and we would have loved that most of her newly-furnished home should contain handmade decorations from our Palestinian folklore. We made some towels decorated with colorful beads and some bathroom things like the mirror frame and many others like a box of spoons that is made of wood and some colorful beads,” explained Budour Nahid Shushaa, who runs the sisters’ “Six Flowers” Facebook page. 
Nadreen, with her arts background, takes the lead in designing patterns for the various items the women make — from cushion covers, table cloths, wallets and purses, trays, slippers, baby booties and blankets, picture frames and unique pieces depicting images and messages. She also carefully selects the wool and colors and prepares the material. 
“For the past eight years, we have been working at home, using it as means to achieve something for ourselves and also to use our time in useful activities,” Budour told The Electronic Intifada. “In summer, for example, we as school girls didn’t have much time or chance to go outdoors, so we wanted to do something useful. While we were sitting right in this balcony, we decided to create a Facebook account with the name Six Flowers.” 
Nour, who studied computer science, recently told a Gaza TV show that part of the reason the sisters kept at the work was because even with their university educations the unemployment situation made it hard to find positions their qualifications would be useful for. But even after Nour found work, she kept her commitment to the project. 
Although the sisters have been making their wares and showing them around Gaza, they saw the Facebook page as a way to reach even more people. The page displays images of some of the sisters’ intricate embroidery and videos of TV interviews they have done.
Budour, Nadreen and Basma Shushaa
courtesy: Rami Almeghari / The Electronic Intifada
Work and identity 
Many people in the Gaza Strip prefer handmade items and exchange them as gifts. “Sometimes our relatives who live abroad, such as in the Gulf countries or Western countries like the US, buy some handmade gifts from us,” said Budour, who handles media inquiries for the sisters. “Last year our uncle bought some gifts from us and we were happy that our works were shown in the US.” 
“This [work] represents for me both an identity and a hobby,” said high school student Hiba. “There is nothing more beautiful than our own Palestinian cultural heritage of handmade works and decorations,” she said as she showed off some of her creations (including contemporary adaptions such as mobile phone cases) to The Electronic Intifada. 
Many of the sisters’ works, including images and symbols for local organizations, are displayed on the walls of the living room of the house of their father, Nahid Shushaa, which doubles as their workshop. 
“This image that includes a key belongs to one of the local organizations, called Rajeen [We are Returning],” said Aya, gesturing to one of the creations. “When we were asked to create a symbol for that NGO, we thought of the key, which symbolizes the return to our homeland.” 
Aya also contributed a fabric creation which depicts a ship bearing the Palestinian flag. “This represents for me the ships of peace convoys, which attempt to break the Israeli siege,” Aya explained. “I was actually inspired [to make it] by the Israeli attack on the flotilla in 2010.” 
Intricacy and difficulty 
“Sometimes a piece of work takes us about two months,” Nadreen said, but “sometimes, while we are in the middle of the work of something, we find out that a certain color of a string used in the making is lacking in the local market, so we always make sure that all raw materials needed are available beforehand.” 
Other challenges she said the sisters face are the lack of special exhibitions in Gaza to sell such work. “Some of the works we make here are embroidered laptop covers. We thought of that as a way to combine modern technology and folkloric tradition. But the price for this is too high for many people, simply because we need to send such covers, and other items to specialized people who can add important touches to them.” 
Looking forward 
The Six Flowers dream of having a place like a workshop to make their own things in and of exhibiting their works in different parts of the Gaza Strip. “We’d like to train other women, including widows, impoverished women and university graduates who can’t find work, on how to make such folkloric works, so that they can rely on themselves in the future,” said Budour. 
“However, we lack a space for that and also we lack a space for our own work, or a place where we can exhibit. Once we had a corner within a local university’s exhibition and this worked well as some visitors bought some of our work,” she explained. 
Inspiration and support from family 
Nahid Shushaa, father of the six sisters and a retired Palestinian Authority construction official, is proud of what his daughters have achieved. “I give them full support to the extent that I helped them get driving licenses and I let them use my own car to bring material or take part in exhibitions. Bringing up your daughters to be strong is the best way to let them never worry even in the worst circumstances,” said Abu Mustafa, who has a 16-year-old son called Mustafa, as well as his six daughters. 
While the women work, their grandmother, Umm Nahid, now in her eighties, and originally from Nablus in the West Bank, is always nearby. “During my youth in Nablus and before I moved to Gaza back in 1945, I used to be such a talented embroiderer, just like the girls,” she said. “I recall that I used to be very selective in colors for the various decorations and arts from our Palestinian folklore,” she remembered. “Up to this moment, I help with the girls’ works by helping them coordinate the various beautiful colors.” 
With their family’s encouragement, the Six Flowers are ensuring that a Palestinian tradition flourishes and finds new forms. 
You can also check out their TV video here  (in Arabic :) )

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

First Lady Al Sheikha Mozah Visits Atfaluna, Gaza - October 23, 2012

All photos courtesy Atfaluna
 Atfaluna in Gaza being dear to our heart (it seems ages since we visited) we were delighted to read about Qatar's First Lady Al Sheikha Mozah's visit there on October 23, 2012.


We were also delighted to see these photos posted on Atfaluna's Facebook page and hope they don't mind our reproducing them, because we were very intrigued by the First Lady's outfit.


A quick google search turned up no information on who might have designed the garment. Some news reports mistakenly identified it as traditionally Palestinian.  We think it was best described on france24.com:
"Sheikha Moza bint Nasser ... wore an elegant black turban and robe of the same colour with trimmings made of traditional Palestinian cross stitch."
We'd probably have described it as "contemporary Palestinian cross stitch" rather than traditional, but that's because we are pedantic museum curators :)


We also found ourselves discussing whether it was a single robe or an coat with embroidered arm bands and front panels over a black dress with a cross stitched belt. We've seen similar lovely garments styled by Anat in Damascus.


This outfit (like it's wearer) was certainly very elegant. It's always interesting to see Palestinian cross stitched amalgamated successfully with modern Islamic design. We like to document those kind of garments - thus, this post.


If anyone out there can identify this garment further for us, please drop us a line :)


Monday, October 15, 2012

Palestinian Film Festival Australia 8 Nov- 2 Dec 2012



It's our favorite film festival time again. A huge thank you to Cultural Media and Palace Cinemas for making it happen :)
"Cultural Media is proud to present the 4th Palestinian Film Festival. This year’s theme is simple yet heartfelt: Visit Palestine. 
"Many of us have a connection to Palestine. For some, it may be historical, ancestral or spiritual.For others, it may be political, humanitarian or educational. Whatever your interest may be, join us on a cinematic journey of unforgettable imagery and creative, thought-provoking storytelling."
There are some wonderful films in the festival, including:
And one we are particularly looking forward to:
You'll find details of the films and screening times below:
You can also keep in touch with what's happening via the Festival's Facebook page.

See you there :)

Sunday, August 19, 2012

"Beyond the Last Sky" soon to open at the Australian Centre for Photography

Image © Larissa Sansour
still from A Space Exodus 2009.
Courtesy the artist and
Australian Centre for PhotographyBeyond The Last Sky page
A new Palestinian photography and video exhibition is about to open at the Australian Centre for Photography. It has an impressive list of organizers, having been:
"created in a partnership between the Australian Centre for Photography and the National Institute for Experimental Arts (NIEA), College of Fine Arts (COFA), the University of New South Wales (UNSW) and is supported by Cultural Media"
It also has a fascinating curatorial premise:
"Contemporary photography and video has given a new accessible voice to diverse Palestinian stories and in the process challenges media portrayals and undermines long held stereotypes and popular understandings. 
"There is a growing recognition of contemporary Palestinian art practice globally, but this is the first exhibition in Australia solely dedicated to contemporary Palestinian photography and video. Beyond the Last Sky showcases the diversity of contemporary Palestinian art, which has increasingly moved away from documentary work to more experimental and innovative forms. The exhibition takes its name from the verse ‘where will the birds fly after the last sky’ in Mahmoud Darwish’s poem The Earth is Closing on Us and Edward Said’s book After the Last Sky, 1986. 
"The exhibition has been curated as if it is the evolution of Said’s book, looking beyond documentary modes as an exploration and verification of Palestinian experience. Beyond the Last Sky explores the ways in which the use of critical humour in contemporary art offers a new articulation of Palestinian culture, politics and identity. Encouraging audiences to question and engage, Beyond the Last Sky investigates the subversive potential of humour to challenge representational assumptions and clichés. 
"The exhibition offers opportunities for audiences to gain new insight into the depth and breadth of Palestinian experience, inviting them to look at Palestine from an unconventional, playful and engaging perspective."
The exhibition runs from 1 September to18 November 2012 and entry is free. We'll report back after we've seen it :)

More info:

Participating artists: