Listening Patterns

The creation of this work started as a reaction to the on-going genocide in Palestine. Lacking the necessary knowledge and resources to have a deep understanding of this long historical conflict, I was motivated to create a piece that holds space for its audience to have a more genuine interaction with the current conflicts in the Middle East. Since the conversation around land and space has been central to the conflicts between Palestine and Israel, space became the central concept of this piece. Thinking about land, embodiment, and existence, this piece draws inspiration from prayer rugs, central to Muslim worship, which symbolize a secure piece of land for a spiritual experience. To symbolize this hypothetical land/space, the Persian garden, as a symbol of a safe space with Tatreez symbols that are inseparable from Palestinian identity and therefore the politics of the region, has been merged together. With the sounds of the news playing in my head repeatedly, I added Tatreez’s Rosette-shaped embroidered speakers to the piece, in the heart of the Persian garden symbols, to play the sounds borrowed from the land itself - borrowed from Aporee Radio - to create a less manipulated and genuine experience to pay homage to Palestine and prompt contemplation on the ongoing Middle Eastern circumstances and their deep historical roots.

This textile piece invites its audience to kneel on the land and bring their ears close to the symbols and take a moment or two to be alone with one's thoughts and listen to the sounds of the land under distress.