A colorful illustration of a woman with flowing purple hair and a polka-dotted white veil. She's adorned in a vibrant dress featuring yellow, blue, and red patterns with flower motifs.

Silent Revolutionary Embroidery Workshop

Learn more about Palestinian embroidery and let your voice sound loud and clear with needle and thread!

Visitor information

  • When

    , from to

  • For whom

    Everyone ages 5 and up

  • Language(s)

    Dutch, English & Arabic

  • Timing

    • 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM: Organisations (with reservation)
    • 1:00 - 5:00 PM: For everyone (without reservation)

  • Practical information

    • For free (without reservation): first come, first served
    • Maximum 10 persons at the same time

As part of the Embroidering Palestine exhibition, textile artist Fatima Abbadi and her Embroidery team will take you on a monthly journey into Palestinian embroidery – tatreez in Arabic. Tatreez is so much more than craftmanship, it’s a story about Palestinian identity. Although the cross-stitch is the most common technique, women used to employ a wide range of decorative techniques, as they still do today. Inspiration for embroidery motifs came from everyday life: plants, animals, architecture and political events.

Are you curious to learn more about this? Can you already embroider, or not at all yet? Just join us at the table. Watch, listen and embroider along on a collective curtain, composed of Palestinian embroidery stitches and characteristic motifs – which you can also find in the exhibition. The end result is a tribute to the Palestinian culture, embroidering together threads of resistance into a unified expression. A silent form of cultural resistance, in which everyone's voice is heard loud and clear.

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    Fatima Abbadi
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    Fatima Abbadi

Fatima Abbadi

Fatima Abbadi is a textile researcher, embroiderer, and specialist in Levantine dress traditions. She documents, photographs, and preserves Middle Eastern textile heritage through research and education. As founder of an embroidery school in the Netherlands, she has been teaching Palestinian and Levant embroidery for six years. Her work fosters cultural exchange, using embroidery to connect communities and challenge prejudice.

Fatima designs and leads workshops for refugee women, promoting healing and intercultural dialogue. She is a freelance photographer and member of the Italian Mignon Group, focusing on everyday narratives. Fatima co-founded Nakhl Stichting, an initiative that empowers women through textile arts and cultural storytelling. Her projects consistently highlight women’s voices and the power of cross-cultural collaboration. She continues to collect and study traditional garments, contributing to textile preservation and awareness. Fatima’s practice celebrates heritage while advocating for inclusion, creativity, and cultural empathy.

Campaign image: Jerusalem Is In the Heart, 1977, Helmi El-Touni. Edited by Dar Al-Fata Al-Arabi, Caïro. Source: Palestine Poster Project Archives