Walking into Gathering is like being welcomed into someone’s home. Staffordshire St, a church-turned-project-space in Peckham, greets you with the warm smell of food, as Palestinian caterer Eman Almaani prepares food for iftar. The table is laid, baklava is waiting, and all are welcome to share food and stories.
Palestinian artists Areen Hassan and the Tatreez Collective continue to bring us together by weaving memories, emotions and stories through Tatreez (traditional Palestinian embroidery). When so many buildings are destroyed during war, and homes are tragically lost through mass displacement, preserving identity and tradition becomes resistance.
The exhibition almost didn’t happen. Amid the US and Israeli military strikes on Iran, flights have been severely disrupted. Hassan, who was born in Jerusalem and is now based in Dubai, struggled to get a flight for herself and her artwork, only arriving late the night before.
Entering the gallery space, it’s hard not to be drawn towards Hassan’s monumental and layered silk panels. Flowing from the ceiling down to the floor, they gently bristle and reveal an immersive pathway. The soft red transparent panels are spotlighted with light, yet they also radiate and return warm light back to us. The hanging textiles fill the space with a divine glow. Heavenly Loom is inspired by Jannah, the paradise realms of the Islamic Garden. Like the flowing threads, water in the Islamic Garden goes in all directions and you can hear it at all times. This reference to spiritual infinity feels like a manifestation of eternal strength and endurance.
Hassan has modernised the practice by taking each thread out of the fabric, one by one, to give them new life out of their original form. Some people feel like this unravelling process damages the fabric, but Hassan sees this differently. Despite it being separated from its origins, the thread is “not broken, it remains strong, complete, and beautiful” in its own right. The falling silk, fragmented and woven, is a continuous gathering and lifting of fallen pieces.
The natural symbolic references of Palestinian strength continue with Tatreez Collective, led by Dina Asfour, who exhibit three panels that resemble the traditional embroidered form of cypress trees. Asfour tells me that cypress trees have taken on a collective meaning for resistance in Palestine. During all seasons and weather, the trees remain green, living, and standing.
The embroidered squares, sewn together by Asfour’s mother, have been made by individual contributors in 15 different countries. Anyone can be part of this collaborative project. Tatreez Cypress Tree Forest is a culmination of over 75 workshops, 2000 participants, and over 500 contributors online. The collective was started by 3 friends just wanting to stitch, which over time turned into a responsibility to carry Palestinian voices. With their first workshop in 2022 at B21 Gallery, the group were surprised by the huge interest in their workshops.
The Tatreez squares they’ve collected have become a language. The panels carry images of cypress trees, orange trees, olive branches, chickens, and other traditional shapes that carry symbolic stories of power. For example, the thick skin and durability of the Jaffa orange has become a symbol for Palestinian identity and agriculture. Another square carries the words “soul of my soul” in Arabic, referencing a video that circulated online of a man holding and mourning his son who had been killed.
Curator and creative director, Dee Haughney, tells me she wants this exhibition to “give space for conversations to happen, bring voices together, and meet a community around them.” Gathering is a welcoming and powerful project that invites us to collectively elevate Palestinian creativity and identity.
The exhibition, various workshops and fundraising events will be running for the weekend, from the 6th to 8th of March 2026.
MORE: staffordshirest.com/gathering
