Artists Nour Hage and Aya Haidar come together with the Tatreez Collective in a discussion about the role of women in the creation of textiles and the notion of matrilineal transmission of identity and memory through these skills.

The panel will be moderated by Dr Venetia Porter, Honorary Research Fellow, British Museum, Former Curator of Islamic and Middle East art.

Tickets can be booked on the right of this page under “Click to find out more”.

About Kheit

There is a tradition in the Levant, specifically in Palestine, where women from one family or community embroider and stitch together a wedding trousseau which the bride keeps her entire life. Each person that has contributed to the making of the trousseau leaves their mark for the bride to carry with her throughout her new life, carrying memories and her matrilineal lineage with her.

Inspired by this tradition, textile artist Nour Hage has been commissioned to create a piece based on visual symbolisms from the Arab Hall at Leighton House. Nour has been working on this piece alongside a group of local Kensington and Chelsea residents who took part in a series of collaborative workshops, exploring embroidery techniques used on the textile pieces at the museum and have contributed to the final artwork.

The artwork will be complimented by digital resources and an extensive events programme exploring the threads connecting Britain and the Arab world in the 19th and early 20th Centuries.

Kheit is a collaboration between Leighton House and The Arab British Centre, part of our Arab Britain programming theme that sets out to explore and document the history, achievements and experiences of Arabs in Britain.  Funded by The Barakat Trust’s Hands on Islamic Art grant.

You can read more about the exhibition and programme here.

Image credit: Tatreez Collective