Gaza exhibit at Venice Biennale explores themes of displacement and cultural identity

Journalist Creates Gaza Genocide Tapestry for Venice Biennale

A journalist has co-commissioned the Gaza Genocide Tapestry, a new art project to be displayed at the Venice Biennale. The tapestry is part of the Palestine History Tapestry Project, which aims to document the history of Palestine and its people through embroidery.

The project brings together Palestinian women in occupied Palestine and refugee camps in Lebanon and Jordan to create embroidered panels that tell stories of Gaza’s destruction in real time. Each panel consists of 55,000 stitches and features fragments of what has happened during the conflict, including images of a journalist weeping over his child’s dead body and young girls being crushed at a soup kitchen.

The tapestry is a testament to the power of storytelling and the importance of preserving the stories of those affected by the conflict. It is the largest body of Palestinian embroidery narrating the history of Palestine and its people, following in the tradition of the Bayeux Tapestry and the Great Tapestry of Scotland.

The project was started in 2011 by Jan Chalmers, a British nurse who lived and worked in Gaza for two years in the 1960s. The journalist met Chalmers in 2013 during their postgraduate studies and joined the effort to create the Palestine History Tapestry Project.

The tapestry will be displayed at the Venice Biennale this year, providing an opportunity for the public to see a powerful representation of the stories of those affected by the conflict.

Source: Al Jazeera