MEMO in conversation with Wafa Ghnaim

MEMO interviewed Palestinian-American author and businesswoman Wafa Ghnaim. Her book, Tatreez & Tea: Embroidery and Storytelling in the Palestinian Diaspora, was nominated for the Palestine Book Awards in 2018.

Ghnaim shared with us the roots of her passion for tatreez (the Arabic word for Palestinian embroidery), and how she developed the title of her book. She communicates in her book the links between tatreez and biblical times. “Tatreez falahi is represented in European paintings of the biblical period,” explains Ghnaim, indicating that there are gaps in history, and the need to preserve and document these stories.

Ghnaim conveys that her aim is to document oral history to art history: “Preserving the oral history of one family, my family and I can continue to do that for other families throughout my research… I preserve this history for our diaspora community as well.”