THERE

THERE

In his work Jordan Nassar (b. 1985) intricately weaves cultural narratives, personal heritage, and the art of Middle Eastern embroidery. Nassar was born in New York City to a Palestinian father and a Polish American mother, and his ethnicity profoundly shapes his art. Drawn to tatreez, a traditional Palestinian embroidery, he uses this craft to explore the complex interplay between ritual and diasporic life.

In recent years Nassar has created distinctive embroidered designs with the participation of craftswomen in the West Bank. This process, uniting makers across regions but connected by heritage, embodies the concept of diaspora. Nassar’s geometric compositions feature traditional patterns, and embedded within them are his impressions of landscapes in imaginative colors. When various embroidered panels are combined, their imagery—which contrasts but also seamlessly blends—reads as a cohesive whole, mirroring elements of hybrid identity.

This exhibition takes its title from a poem by Lebanese American poet and artist Etel Adnan, who explores themes of isolation and marginality in her prose. Featured is Nassar’s large-scale Shade of the Cypress, alongside a selection of new work. While Shade of the Cypress was created with craftswomen in Bethlehem, Hebron, and Ramallah, Nassar’s latest embroideries were produced solely by him in his New York City studio due to current events in Palestine. Despite these challenges, and perhaps especially at this critical juncture, Nassar’s work invites us to reflect on hybrid and diverse landscapes that, through varied perspectives, color combinations, and orientations, encourage meditation on homeland and the formation of selfhood.

THERE is curated by Jared Ledesma, curator of 20th-Century art and contemporary art, and is organized by the North Carolina Museum of Art.