Jordan Nassar

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Jordan Nassar’s artistic practice involves an ongoing engagement with the foundations of Palestinian craft history and is anchored in his notable succession of embroidered landscapes that incorporate a traditional form of embroidery known as tatreez. Used for centuries to adorn women’s garments, as well as stitched onto domestic objects, embroidery is an enduring custom and cultural symbol of matrilineal heritage in Palestine. The backgrounds and overlays of bright geometric designs in Nassar’s landscapes are emblematic of his commitment to reconnect with the patterns, colors, and historic labor that can be found in traditional items from his homeland. Evolving out of his research into Palestinian craft production and building on insights gained from creating The Sea Beneath Our Eyes, an immersive installation commissioned and produced by the CCA - Center for Contemporary Art Tel Aviv where it premiered in 2019, Nassar’s newest work utilizes traditional flameworked glassmaking processes that are distinctive to the Old City of Hebron in the West Bank. Wiring together handmade glass beads onto customized steel frames, Nassar forms the colorful beaded points of light into serpentine landscapes that correspond to the pixelated terrains of his embroidered images. The emotional nature of Nassar’s work is forged from the hallowed and contested Palestinian landscape; the faraway vistas highlight the distance and longing felt by the diaspora for their homeland. His works are born from the Palestine of his dreams, imaginary scenes from his family’s place of origin or the utopian landscapes of a more peaceful future.