The threads of an identity

Taghrid Hudoosh, director of the Surif Women’s Cooperative, collects dry ‘tatreez’ pieces of embroidery from a clothesline, in the West Bank city of Surif. Several Palestinian organisations are working to revive the traditional embroidery, which is on Unesco’s list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. — ©2023 The New York Times Company

IN every stitch, there is a story.

Like layers of history, the hand-stitched Palestinian embroidery known as tatreez, traditionally used to ornament Palestinian dress, tells of towns and villages lost, old customs abandoned, past lives and survival. The stitched designs and symbols once functioned almost as an identification card.